Deep Breath
by Isabel5
Summary: Chloe/Oliver. Chloe gets more than she bargined for when she heals a girl from one of Lex's 33.1 labs. It seems insignifigant at first but when Lex finds out it could mean the difference between life and death for everyone she knows, Oliver especially.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own, really want.

Author's Note: This story was written for and is dedicated to Chlollie as a very, very, very, very late Birthday present. Sorry it took so long, I hope you like it.

* * *

Oliver's heart was pounding so hard he thought it was going to jump out of his chest. When the hospital wing he'd set up in the research department at the new JL Towers called and said Chloe was there he thought his heart did stop. However when the nurse went on to explain that she was screaming and making a scene, the pain in his chest lessened slightly but not by much. If Chloe was making a scene somewhere it was a big deal.

"This never would have happened if Dr. Emil were here." Chloe screamed.

"Yes thank you. Well, we'll get this whole thing sorted out when Mr. Queen gets here." An unfamiliar voice said in a very annoyed tone.

"Yes we most certainly will." Chloe snapped.

"Get what sorted out?" Oliver asked opening the doors and seeing a standoff between Chloe and Dr. Stevens, who was filling in while Dr. Emil was on vacation.

"Mr. Queen." Dr. Stevens turned relieved. "I have run every test that I feel comfortable running on a perfectly healthy girl and still she complains."

"Because I'm not a perfectly healthy girl." Chloe said.

"You signed off on her chart yesterday yourself." Dr. Stevens pointed out to Oliver who nodded.

That was the deal that he made with Chloe after he found out about her healing abilities. She'd healed a near death AC after a job that went horribly wrong and died herself. Initially he suggested that she never ever again be allowed to use her powers. She responded as he figured she would, by sticking her tongue out at him. After hours of arguing they came to the agreement that she could use her powers at her own discretion as long as Oliver's Doctor's checked her out afterword and her personally signed off on her health before she was allowed to leave the hospital wing. Normally it went off without a hitch, but apparently something had gone wrong this time.

"You healed the girl that we rescued from the 33.1 lab." Oliver said.

"Megan." Chloe nodded thinking about the poor girl they'd found in one of Lex's labs, half alive, barely breathing, experimented on within an inch of her life.

"And I checked all your vitals, ran all the tests that Dr. Emil set up and everything came back fine." Dr. Stevens pointed out.

"Ok, then why did I get rushed to Star City General last night?"

"What?" Oliver turned to her and frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't make any sense." Dr. Stevens said. "You're perfectly healthy."

"People with asthma aren't perfectly healthy." Chloe snapped at him.

"That's not true, I know many people who are perfectly healthy and happen to have asthma." Dr. Stevens told her.

"Except Chloe doesn't have asthma." Oliver shook his head.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Stevens said confused.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him for the past hour." Chloe threw her hands in the air.

"You don't have asthma?" Dr. Stevens said.

"When I came into the hospital three days ago, I had massive internal bleeding, multiple broken bones, head trauma and I died, but no asthma." Chloe told him. "Didn't you read my file?"

"I skimmed it." Dr. Stevens said sheepishly.

"He didn't read my file." Chloe glared at Oliver.

"With all due respect Miss Sullivan you're file is larger than the phone book." Dr. Steven's pulled out a chart. "You're sure you didn't have asthma three days ago?"

"I'm pretty sure." Chloe told him.

"Can you do that?" Oliver asked. "Can you develop asthma like that out of the blue?"

"It's not unusual to develop asthma later in life. Generally it's around the age of thirty or after a pregnancy." Dr. Stevens raised his eyebrows and Chloe glared. "Right, so that's a no on the pregnancy. You've never had any severe allergies?"

"No allergies." Chloe said.

"When you were younger?" The Doctor asked.

"No, never." Chloe told him.

"Well this is curious." Dr. Stevens walked off muttering.

"Dr. Emil would have caught this yesterday you know." Chloe told Oliver annoyed.

"We can't begrudge the man a vacation Chloe." Oliver laughed and put an arm around her shoulders. "Tell me what happened."

"You let me out of here yesterday morning, I went home and showered. Spent some time at my office and then Tina wanted to try this new restaurant that was like on the tenth floor of this building and the elevator was broken. Around the third floor I was having trouble breathing, around the fifth floor I was doubled over in pain, at the sixth floor apparently I was passed out. At the hospital they said it was a severe asthma attack. They said that it would likely happen again, that it would likely happen a lot and they gave me this." Chloe pulled an inhaler out of her purse. "I've already had to use it twice today."

"This is serious." Oliver frowned at her. "Are you ok?"

"Besides the asthma? I'm fine." She assured him.

"You know, Megan has asthma." Dr. Stevens said from across the room.

Oliver and Chloe looked at each other for a second. "Could you do that?" Oliver asked her.

"I don't…I don't know." Chloe shook her head. "It's never happened before."

"Have you ever healed anyone that had a pre existing condition?" Oliver asked her and Chloe shook her head. "Maybe we should go talk to Megan."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded.

* * *

JL Towers was as much Chloe's baby as it was Oliver's, maybe even more so. It was conceptualized two years before over Irish Coffees in an afterhours session at the Talon. One of Chloe's clients from the Isis Foundation, a girl that she'd been working with for a while committed suicide. Everyone had tried to cheer up Chloe, assuring her that it wasn't her fault the girl couldn't handle her powers, her life. She'd gone through Lois, Clark, Bart, AC, and Victor with little effect when finally Oliver showed up, dragged her from her apartment down to the Talon, slammed a bottle of scotch on the table and two glasses and just sat down next to her.

They didn't even talk for the first hour and a half. Just sat in companionable silence, Oliver letting Chloe be the one to break the ice. She finally did telling Oliver that for all everyone's claims that there was nothing Chloe could have done she knew better. She knew that Emily's home life was miserable. She knew that her mother treated her like dirt, believing to her core that her powers were the work of the devil, that Emily was by association evil and going to rot in hell.

Chloe had allowed her to stay on really bad days in the back room of the Isis Foundation but it wasn't enough. She thought if she'd just had been able to find someplace more permanent for Emily to stay, someplace she could be free to be herself, get away from her mother it wouldn't have ended like that. Oliver asked Chloe what kind of place and Chloe rambled for two hours on her perfect Meta Safe House.

She talked of sympathetic medical professionals because of the amount of people who are scared to go to the doctor for colds or even the hospital for more severe problems because of their altered DNA and blood . She talked of places where they could live together, helping each other becoming a firm believer in the benefits of group therapy after a year running the Isis Foundation. She talked about a private place where the more unfortunate meteor affected, the ones whose powers seemed to manifest in some physical way prevent them from blending in with society could go and live a normal life.

"Basically, something like the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning." Chloe had told him after the scotch had been put away and the coffee brewed.

"Is that in Europe?" Oliver frowned and Chloe laughed for the first time in what felt like years.

"No, it's from comics. X-men." She told him. "Nevermind. Forget about it."

But Oliver hadn't forgotten about it. A week later a package came in the mail. There was a rough draft of the future JL Tower with all the amenities that Chloe had listed the night before and some he'd even come up with on his own. Oliver had even done his homework on the Xavier school and Chloe smiled looking at the floor plans which included a marble inlay on the lobby floor that said, "Mutatis mutandis" which was the Xavier School's motto and Latin for, "with those things having been changed which need to be changed", that Chloe felt was rather fitting.

She still saw it as more of a pipe dream, a prospectus that Oliver had put together just to make her feel better but when he called, asked her to quit her job to be Watchtower full time, move to Star City and oversee the building and set up of the Tower it actually took her less time than she thought to agree to it. Especially after he told her she would have complete control over content, whatever she wanted, he wanted her to have, no expenses spared. Thus JL Towers was born.

Final construction was finished six months later and the doors were opened but still it never ceased to amaze Chloe. The bottom floors were like any normal office building. All the guys had their own spaces. There was a research facility and the R&D labs that developed and created their equipment and all of Oliver's arrows. The fifth floor was all for Chloe, it had her monitoring system set up just the way she wanted it so she could play Watchtower when she led the boys on their missions. Her office and storage facility was up there where she did all her research and housed all the information that was taken from the labs themselves.

On the top floors were anything and everything a person could want for. There was a hospital, apartments that some of the guys took advantage of and that Oliver had been trying to get Chloe to move into for a while now, a movie theater, grocery store, a school even. Oliver wanted to make sure that the people who were saved from Lex's labs had every opportunity at their fingertips to get back into a normal life, he wanted them to know that they could stay as long as they liked, as long as they needed before they were ready to rejoin the real world, before they were sure that Lex wouldn't look for them or find them again.

Chloe thought that the greatest thing about the building was that it was completely self contained. That was something she was adamant about from the start. Chloe felt that by forcing the Meta's to treat the place as if it were just like the real world, they'd be better equipped to go out and make their own life when they were ready. Depending upon the severity of their injuries, physical or mental, a person was given a week to get settled and then a job was assigned to them based on interests or skill. If you wanted to live in JL Towers, you had to work in JL Towers. You could be a clerk at the grocery store, run reels at the theater, cook in the kitchens, whatever you wanted. They even had a few of the Meta's working as lab assistants in R&D.

Chloe dealt with the day to day operations of the building, she was all at once the apartment super, den mother, therapist, guidance councilor and friend to all the Meta residents. At the same time she oversaw the R&D departments, Medical Departments, and she was acting boss to the guys when Oliver wasn't around. It was a lot more than she'd signed on for but she wouldn't have it any other way. Oliver stepped in from time to time, taking a hands on approach to the facility just as he did with all his other business ventures. The residents knew him by name, the staff knew that Chloe was the boss, but whatever Oliver says goes and that caused problems at some times but never anything too huge.

Chloe and Oliver headed up to one of the residential floors and found Megan in a common area with a few other rescued Meta's. "Hey Mr. Q." Jordan, a guy who had the unfortunate ability of super scent, walked over and did a very complicated hand gesture with Oliver. "What's going on?" Jordan sniffed. "Besides the egg salad you had for lunch."

"What did I tell you about that Jordan?" Oliver smiled at him.

"That it's creepy to tell people what they had to eat." Jordan nodded. "Hard habit to break. Luthor had me name every scent anytime I smelled it."

"I know." Oliver frowned at him. Jordan had only been in the 33.1 lab for a few months before Oliver and his crew got him out. He was probably ok to rejoin the rest of the world but he'd been a foster kid before he was taken and he had no urge to get back into the system so he was staying to get his GED while Chloe and Oliver tried to get him into college.

"And Chloe my girl." Jordan spun her around in a hug. "You always smell so good, like vanilla and apples." He set her down confused. "And now with an undertone of a sour medicinal smell." He backed away slowly.

Chloe let out a groan, obviously he was getting a whiff of her inhaler. "Hey Holly." She waved at the girl in the corner hiding her face with her hair. Holly raised a sleeve covered hand and waved meekly. She'd been in her 33.1 for five years and she was most definitely not ready to re-enter society. Holly had been at JL Towers since it was opened, having been moved from another safe house. They rescued her four years ago and she still wasn't ready to even let them in on her power much less what happened to her in the lab. All Chloe knew was that she liked to garden, so they built her a green house on the roof, and that she liked to read so Chloe put her in charge of filling up the library. She was slowly coming out of her shell but it would probably take a while. "Guys can we talk to Megan alone for a second?"

"Sure." Jordan held out a hand to Holly who took it slowly and allowed him to lead her away. Jordan was good for Holly as outgoing as he was, he was slowly bringing the shy girl out of her shell.

"Hey." Megan sat down on the couch. "Chloe right?" Chloe nodded. "I've been talking to some of the people here. I know what you did for me."

"Oh, this is always awkward." Chloe sat down.

"Why didn't you say anything yesterday when you came in here to talk to me?" Megan asked. "You saved my life."

Chloe had done her normal tour and introduction with Megan the day before, showing her around, giving her options as far as what kinds of job she wanted and laying down the rules. She pointedly neglected to mention that Chloe had died saving Megan's life because that always proved awkward. She hadn't counted on someone else, probably Jordan, ratting her out.

"It's all part of the package here at JL Towers." Chloe smiled and tried to get off the subject as quickly as possible. "Do you have asthma?"

"Since birth." Megan nodded then paused. "Come to think of it now I haven't used my inhaler once since I got here."

"And you used to use your inhaler a lot?" Oliver asked.

"Sometimes three times a day." Megan nodded and frowned. "What's going on?"

"I think…I took your asthma when I healed your other wounds." Chloe told her.

"You mean you cured my asthma too?" Megan smiled at her. "That's awesome."

"Not so much." Chloe said. "See when I cure someone, I take their injuries and heal myself, usually it's just wounds, but this time was different."

"Will you cure the asthma too?" Megan asked her.

"I don't know." Chloe said. "This whole thing didn't exactly come with an instructional booklet to begin with. I guess I just gotta play it by ear." Chloe sighed. "So is there anything I should know? About your asthma? Is there anything in particular that triggers it?"

"Well, dust, pollen, mold." Megan told her.

"Ok." Chloe nodded.

"Cigarette smoke, scented candles, perfume, air freshener." Megan continued.

"Wow, this is getting better and better." Chloe turned to Oliver.

"If I laugh or cry for a long time, strenuous exercise, aspirin." Megan said.

"That all?" Chloe frowned.

"And wine, probably other alcohol, I just never drank that much to be on the safe side." Megan laughed at the look on Chloe's face. "You want me to write this down?"

"Really there's just one thing I want to know right now, this is very important ok." Megan nodded at the serious look on Chloe's face. "What about caffeine? Can I still have coffee because I really need to be able to have coffee."

Megan made a face and Chloe groaned. "Just use it in moderation."

"In moderation." Chloe pouted. "She said to use it in moderation."

"I know." Oliver smiled at her.

"I don't think I know how to use coffee in moderation." Chloe mumbled on. "I mean who would want to use coffee in moderation."

"Chloe, you need to just take a deep breath." Oliver pulled her into a hug and then his phone rang. He walked away to take it and Megan raised an eyebrow at Chloe.

"Are you and Mr. Queen…you know…together?" Megan asked.

"Oliver and me?" Chloe said surprised. "Why would you think that?"

"You two just seem very close." Megan smiled at her.

"We're just good friends. I mean we're…we spend a lot of time together…we work together and we sort of built this place together. " Chloe thought for a second. "He's like my best friends and I just…" Her breath was coming in short shallow bursts. "Of course I like him…" She started wheezing and fumbled in her pocket for her inhaler.

"Deep breath." Megan encouraged her as she used the inhaler. "I know that feeling." Megan said to her laughing.

"You ok?" Oliver walked over hanging up the phone in mid sentence as Chloe used the inhaler a second time to calm her breathing. Oliver rubbed circles in her back as her breathing evened out and Chloe had to move away as it was having the opposite effect on her. Megan gave her a cheeky smile and Chloe glared.

"I'm fine." Chloe insisted.

"Thanks Megan." Oliver said leading Chloe out of the room. "We'll have Dr. Stevens run a few tests."

"You mean Stupid Stevens?" Chloe asked.

"Chloe, don't be petty." Oliver reminded her. "He's one of the top geneticists in his field, his research on Meta's is second only to Dr. Emil's." Chloe still glared at him.

"That's all fine and dandy but the man can't be bothered to read my medical file before treating me." Chloe pointed out.

"Fine. I'll call Dr. Emil back from his vacation." Oliver assured her. "But you're going to owe him."

"I buy him a vacation home if he can fix me." Chloe said and Oliver kissed the top of her head.

"Let's go, I'll buy you some decaf." Oliver pulled her to the doors.

* * *

Two days later Chloe was sitting on the examination table a smile on her face as Oliver stood in the corner. "What are you so happy about?"

"Dr. Emil is back and he's going to fix me." Chloe said.

"Don't get your hopes up." Dr. Emil walked in the room reading Chloe's file. "And by the way I was sunning on the beach in the Caribbean when you called me so I'm just as likely to let you suffer." He joked with her.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked him. "Don't get my hopes up?"

"I'm good but I can't work miracles. I can't cure asthma Chloe." Dr. Emil said. "No one can."

"Except _I_ don't have asthma." Chloe reminded him. "I have Megan's asthma. So I can cure it right?"

"I'm not so sure about that." Dr. Emil put the file down.

"Ok, but I cured Megan's broken bones and Megan's internal bleeding and Megan's concussion." Chloe pointed out.

"Yes but given enough time and the proper medical care, Megan could have cured all of that too." Dr. Emil told her. "Megan could not have ever cured her asthma, so I'm not sure if you can either." Chloe groaned and fell back onto the exam table drooping one arm over her eyes. "I didn't say it was impossible." Dr. Emil smiled at her theatrics.

"You think I could heal this?" Chloe asked him hopefully.

"I think you're an enigma Chloe Sullivan." Dr. Emil said. "I think that you can do whatever you want to do, whether I tell you it's physically impossible or not." He lifted her arms and stared down at her. "But I need you to tell me the truth."

"Ok." Chloe sat back up. "I don't really eat my vegetables, sorry." Dr. Emil crossed his arms over his chest. "What?" Chloe looked confused.

"There was something different about this time." He told her. "I've looked at your test results your hormone levels were higher than normal, your white blood cells were off the charts."

"Aren't they always off the charts after I heal someone?" Chloe asked.

"Yes, there's generally what I call a safe range where your levels are after a healing, but this time they were even higher than usual, in fact all your test results were off this time. Dr. Stevens didn't catch it because he's not familiar with your case. So what happened?"

Chloe stuttered for a bit and then turned to Oliver who was glaring at her with his arms over his chest. "Chloe, was this time different?"

"Yeah." Chloe finally admitted. "I didn't try to heal her."

"What?" Oliver sat down.

"I know the protocol." Chloe said. "I'm supposed to triage them, assess the damage and if they can make it to the hospital, I bring them back here, if I think they're too far gone, I heal them on site. I didn't triage her, I never got the chance, I put my hand on her neck to check her pulse and before I know it there's a white light, then I wake up in my hospital bed."

"You didn't actively try to heal her?" Oliver leaned forward. "But that's happened before, with Lois."

"Before I could control my powers, yes, and subconsciously I really wanted to heal her. But it's never happened like this before, I wasn't even thinking about healing Megan." Chloe said.

"What else?" Oliver asked her and Chloe shook her head. "Come on Sidekick you don't think I know when you're lying? You didn't really like the fajitas I cooked the other night and there's still something you're not telling me right now."

"You used too much garlic." Chloe glared at him. Oliver didn't turn away from her. "Fine. When I heal someone, it's like this pull from my belly button, I can feel it physically. This time it was like it was pulling from every inch of my body." Chloe winced. "It hurt."

"That's it." Oliver pushed himself out of the chair. "It stops now, no more."

"That didn't work before; it's not going to work now." Chloe chuckled and jumped up. "This was a one time thing, a fluke. You said you think I can heal it?" She turned her attention to Dr. Emil.

"Your lung function has improved since a few days ago." Dr. Emil said. "Marginally, like the lowest possible amount it could have improved. There is an 80% chance that it's a fluke, but we'll check, every few days, and we'll keep checking and if we notice any more improvements we'll keep up what we're doing. Meanwhile." Dr. Emil tore off a few pages of his prescription pad. "I'm giving you a better inhaler than the one the hospital prescribed and some anti-inflammatory medication. From what I gathered from Megan, she had a pretty severe form."

"Great." Chloe took the prescriptions from him. "Thank you Dr. Emil."

"I want a two week cruise in the Mediterranean." Dr. Emil said. "Paid vacation."

"You got it." Chloe smiled walking to the door.

"Chloe we aren't finished." Oliver followed her out.

"Aren't we?" Chloe kept walking.

"Stop." Oliver called out in his best Green Arrow voice and to his surprise Chloe stopped. "Turn around." She turned, glaring at him the whole time.

"Is this where we have yet another argument about me using my powers and you forbid it, I laugh at you, we yell for a few hours and then you remember that it's my body and my power and you have no say over what I do but I humor you anyway and allow you to give me ridiculous parameters." Chloe asked him.

Oliver frowned at her. "Is that really what you do?" He asked. "Just humor me?"

"Oh sweetie." Chloe took a few steps forward and straightened his tie a bit and brushed some lint off his shoulder. "That's pretty much all I ever do to you. It's better that way. Cause I get to do what I want and you think you thought of it in the first place."

"Well as long as it works." He teased her. "But seriously, if it happens again, if it hurts you again…"

"I'm gonna keep doing it anyway and you know it." Chloe laughed, then coughed, then wheezed and had to pull out her inhaler.

"Yeah, I really don't like that." Oliver frowned staring at her intently as she breathed in deeply.

"Really?" Chloe smiled at him. "Cause I'm just loving it." She couldn't keep the smile though and it faltered as she lowered her head.

"Hey." Oliver reached out and cupped her chin. "We're going to either fix this, or we're going to learn to live with this. Everything's going to be ok."

"Are you just humoring me?" Chloe asked in a whisper.

"No I'm promising you." Oliver said sincerely. They stared at each other for a minute and Oliver brushed some hair out of her face and was about to say something else when she suddenly brought the inhaler up to her mouth and took a deep breath. He dropped his hand and smiled sadly at her as they walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

For the next few months Chloe was having to learn how to live with the asthma as Dr. Emil kept saying the same thing. It looked as if it was getting better but it was still such a miniscule change that he couldn't be certain that it was actually getting any better. She was still using her inhaler at least two times a day and only a strict regimen of prescription drugs was keeping her from waking up every hour on the hour as she had done the first few nights.

Chloe had learned to avoid quite a few things that could and would trigger an attack in seconds. All of her scented candles had been thrown out. No more fresh flowers on the dining room table. All of her perfume had been packed up and put in the top of her closet. She'd had to go out and buy all new odorless body wash and shampoo and conditioner. She hadn't drank any alcohol and was cutting back on the coffee as much as her body would allow her. She was miserable, her misery didn't abate any when she walked into the Research area and saw the guys all suited up and getting ready to head out.

She paused with her jacket halfway taken off and scrutinized everyone who'd stopped dead in their tracks. "Chloe!" Victor was the first to recover at her sudden appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to go through a few files." Chloe took her jacket off and set her bag down. "What's going on here?"

"We were just…" Victor started and then turned to Oliver for a bit of help.

"New suits." Oliver said suddenly. "Just got them today wanted to make sure they fit."

"Really?" Chloe walked up to him slowly with a determined expression on her face. "New suits?" She looked him up and down and suddenly he seemed extremely self conscious. "So then this here?" She put her hand on his waist and then moved it down toward his knee, he faltered a bit as her finger slid into a cut in the side of the leather and pulled hard. "This isn't the same cut you got three months ago when Bart was playing with your arrows?"

Oliver opened his mouth to counter the claim but shut it and took a step back. "Fine, you caught us." He threw his hands in the air and turned to the others. "We were going out." He said. "We found out about a place where Lex was possibly housing a lab in North Carolina."

"It's not a 33.1." Victor said. "Not yet anyway, just a medical lab, but it could turn into one if we don't shut it down."

"Ok." Chloe frowned. "And I didn't get a call because?" She looked at each of them in turn.

"It's just that this place is gonna be like a cake walk, easy snatch and grab. We didn't want to bother you with a little insignificant place like this." AC told her.

"Oh." Chloe smiled. "It's no big deal? Insignificant or not, I'm a part of this team and if you guys have to go, I have to go. I don't want special treatment or anything." They all just stared at her. "Right so then I'm just gonna go change and you can fill me in on the way there." Chloe walked to the back room.

"Wait." Oliver called out suddenly. Chloe turned around and looked at him pointedly.

"It's really no big deal Oliver." Chloe assured him. "I don't mind being a part of the boring stuff." She assured him.

"I see that now. It's just…" He knew there was no way of finishing this sentence and ensuring the continued safety of his manly parts.

"This isn't about the asthma is it?" Chloe asked him. "Because no way does that sentence end well even if you're wearing a cup." All of the guys subconsciously moved to protect their privates. "It can't be about the asthma because if you know anything at all about me you know that's not going to work. I'm the same Chloe I was three months ago so you guys have to stop acting strange."

"Actually." Bart moved closer. "And I say this with the utmost love and respect for you and because I'm pretty sure if you start swinging I can move out of your way faster than anyone else here. You aren't the same Chloe you were three months ago." Chloe turned her full attention on Bart and motioned for him to continue. "You got winded yesterday searching for a file." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. "We're just afraid that if you came with us you might…" He started to trail off as if he'd just realized what it was he was about to say.

"Might what?" Chloe asked.

"Might…" Victor and AC were shaking their heads furiously. "Slow us down." Bart finished. Everyone seemed to suck in their breath as Chloe stared holes through Bart. Time seemed to slow to an agonizing pace, the second hand on the clock tower barely moved as Chloe's gaze never wavered, she didn't move, didn't blink. Oliver turned to AC and Victor in fear and it felt as if it took a week just to move his head slightly to the left. "Obviously that's a crazy, completely ridiculous, absolutely preposterous idea." Bart said. "That you would ever or could ever in any way shape or form slow us down." Bart added. "Ever." He assured her and still her gaze never wavered. "Have I told you lately that your hair looks really nice?" Bart reached out a hand and caressed a stray lock falling in her face. "So shiny." He smiled at her. "And soft."

"I'm going to go change." Chloe turned around and walked to the back room.

"Oh my God." Bart said falling against the counter top. "That was like intense." He looked at AC. "Did you see how intense that was?"

"The way she was staring at you, I swear to God I thought she was trying to psychically make your head explode." AC said to him.

"She can't do that." Bart scoffed then turned to Oliver scared. "She can't can she?" He rubbed his temples. "I'm getting a headache."

"She can't do that." Oliver scoffed and then made a mental note to call Dr. Emil and make sure that she couldn't in fact psychically make people's heads explode.

"So she's coming with us? Are we sure this is a good idea?" Victor asked concerned.

"No." Oliver shook his head. "But do you want to tell that to the woman who may or may not have the ability to psychically explode people's heads?" They all stared at him and he sighed. "Fine, I'll handle this." Oliver walked into the changing room to find Chloe standing in the doorway doing the breathing exercises that Dr. Emil had told her to do. "Chloe?" He knocked on the door, which caused her to jump and then pant. "Sorry." He winced as she pulled out her inhaler.

"It's fine." Chloe sighed as she got her breathing under control. "I'm not the same girl I was three months ago am I?" She spun the inhaler around in her palm and looked at Oliver sadly.

"No you're not." Oliver sat down on the bench and Chloe fell down beside him. "There are things that you just can't do anymore."

"I know that." Chloe sighed. "It doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Well that really is too much to ask of you." Oliver smiled. "You're still a valuable member of this team. Asthma or not , if this was serious I'd have you suited up in a heartbeat but it really is a nothing run, it's recon and we're not even expecting to find much anyway."

"I guess I can sit this one out." Chloe sounded relieved. She looked up at him. "Anyway I can come out of this saving face?"

Oliver thought for a minute. "When in doubt, blame someone else." He patted her back.

Oliver walked out of the back room and shook his head at the guys. "She's still coming?" Victor asked. "You talked to her? Explained everything?"

"I tried, you want to go in there and tell her that she can't come?" Oliver snapped.

"Calm down." Chloe said walking out of the backroom with the phone to her ear. "No, Lois I can't understand a word that you say when you're like this."

"What's going on?" Oliver asked her.

"Lois is having an emergency." Chloe whispered and then sighed. "Would you guys be totally pissed if I begged off to go deal with this?"

Victor jumped in immediately. "Hey, if Lois is having a meltdown, you gotta be there for her, she's your cousin right, that's like only one family member removed from sister so you gotta do what you gotta do huh?"

"I'm really sorry." Chloe shrugged.

"Well it won't be easy but we'll try and manage without you." AC added.

"Thanks guys." Chloe smiled then put her attention back on the phone. "I'll be there in a few hours." She hung up the phone. "Let me just grab my emergency bag." She walked into the other room.

"Oh I never thought I'd say this but Thank God for Lois Lane and her crazy tantrums." Bart leaned against the wall.

As they walked out of the building, Chloe's bag slung over Bart's shoulder, Oliver walked up next to her. "Lois wasn't having a tantrum was she?"

"When in doubt blame someone else." Chloe smiled. "I bet she'll be having a tantrum by the time I get there. Besides I haven't visited for about six months."

"Ok, we'll swing by and pick you up on the way home." Oliver said to her.

* * *

"Sorry I wasn't really expecting company." Lois walked into the Talon apartment picking up clothes and things off the floor as she walked in. "I would have picked up."

Chloe looked around at the absolute mess that her apartment had turned into and chuckled. "No you wouldn't have." She shook her head.

Lois sighed and dropped the armful of clothes and books and shoes she was carrying to the ground. "Yeah your right."

"So what exactly prompted this visit back home to see the little people?" Lois walked to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

"You aren't little people." Chloe shoved some clothes to the ground and sat on the couch. "I just realized I hadn't been back here in a while and Oliver was passing through so he dropped me off."

"How long you gonna be?" Lois asked.

"Just a few days." Chloe started to wheeze and she looked around the room curiously. "Can you…" She sucked in a breath. "Blow out the…" She fumbled for her inhaler. "Candle?" She asked taking a puff.

"Chloe?" Lois frowned, quickly blowing out the scented candle on the window sill. "You ok?" She walked over confused.

"Just a tiny asthma attack." Chloe smiled.

"But you don't have asthma." Lois told her.

"Yeah?" Chloe laughed. "Tell that to my doctor and my lungs."

"I don't understand." Lois shook her head.

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself." Chloe shrugged. "Don't worry about it though, I'm handling it."

"You're handling a spontaneous eruption of asthma?" Lois asked.

"Yeah and part of handling it is…that coffee wouldn't happen to be decaf would it?" Chloe winced.

"Decaf?" Lois recoiled. "Blasphemous."

"I know." Chloe buried her head in the couch cushions.

"Well I don't have decaf in here." Lois grabbed her bag. "We have to go downstairs." Chloe stood up and walked down to the Talon with Lois. "You're the visitor, I'll buy, you find a table."

Lex got up from his table and headed for the door. He was checking an email on his phone and never saw the girl as she ran into him. He reached his hand out and steadied her as she sneezed three times. Lex looked up and was surprised to see Chloe Sullivan standing in front of him digging in her pocket for something frantically. The last he'd heard she'd moved away to Star City to work for Oliver Queen, she must have been in town to see Lois. She pulled out an inhaler and took a deep breath as she stepped back.

"You have asthma?" Lex asked her slightly amused and curious. Chloe looked up at him and took another pull from the inhaler.

"It's a recent development." Chloe told him, sliding the inhaler back in her pocket. "And it doesn't like your cologne. I guess that's just one more reason for me to stay the hell away from you." She grabbed a napkin and wiped her nose. "Just when I thought there was no upside to this."

"Funny." Lex glared at her. "I had asthma when I was a kid." Lex said suddenly, he wasn't sure why he felt the need to share that piece of advice with her but he went on. "It was pretty bad."

"Really?" Chloe looked up at him and thought for a second. "How did you deal with it?" He may have been the evil mastermind behind the 33.1 labs that tortured and killed the meteor infected but at this point she would take any advice that she could get.

"I got caught in a Meteor shower, lost the asthma along with my hair." Lex said. "You could try that."

"Thanks, I'll put it on my to do list." Chloe moved to push past him and as soon as she got in close proximity she sneezed three times again and grabbed for her inhaler.

Lex paused and studied Chloe as she sat down her breathing slowly returning to normal. "Here's your decaf." Lois sat a cup in front of Chloe who grudgingly took it and sipped it. Lex stared at her and something in his tickled at the edge of his subconscious. Three sneezes, two pulls from the inhaler. He shook his head and walked out.

"Ok." Lois set her cup on the table and leaned back, shaking her head. "You are being way to calm about this whole Asthma thing."

"What does that mean?" Chloe laughed.

"It means I don't think this is just a random medical anomaly." Lois squinted at her cousin. "I think this has to do with the meteor powers that you don't want me to know about. I think this has to do with the real work you do for Oliver aka The Green Arrow, over in Star City that you also don't want me to know about." Chloe choked on her coffee, spitting it all over the table and Lois' shirt as she just sat there looking smug. "What you think you're the only one who can investigate a story and put the pieces together? Please."

"How long have you known?" Chloe leaned forward and whispered. "About my powers?"

"Pretty much from the beginning." Lois said. "I'm actually insulted that you didn't think I could figure that one out. I have a stab wound, I die, then I wake up with no stab wound and your dead from a stab wound. Come on, give me a little credit."

"Ok." Chloe sighed. "But how do you know about the other stuff?"

"You mean that you work with Oliver? That your part of his special super hero team?" Lois asked.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "I mean that."

"I know what Oliver does and after that whole thing with the girl at Isis, he shows up and offers you a job I knew it had nothing to do with programming and computer security."

"How?" Chloe smiled.

"Please, you're my cousin, I love you, and there's nothing you can't find if you have a computer. But really there are better qualified people out there Oliver knows that too. So it could have only meant that he wanted you to work for him on something else."

"Wow." Chloe leaned back in her chair.

"You're impressed aren't you?" Lois beamed at her.

"Sufficiently." Chloe nodded.

"Good, so now will you give me the full scoop?" Lois asked her.

"Off the record?" Chloe asked.

Lois glared at her for a second and sighed. "Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest. "If you insist."

They spent the rest of the evening in the Talon apartment, Chloe telling Lois a story she always feared she'd never be able to share with the girl who was like a sister to her. "So Oliver built that whole thing for you?" Lois sipped her wine. "Wow."

"What?" Chloe frowned.

"It's just, he couldn't even take enough time for a full meal with me and that's when we were dating." Lois pointed out. "You guys are just friends and he builds you a city." Chloe could feel the blood rush to her face and Lois looked at her sideways. "You guys are just friends right?"

"Of course." Chloe scoffed. "Just friends, really good friends, and we work together, and…"

"Yeah, ok, I get the point." Lois smirked at her.

"Seriously. We're just friends." Chloe protested even as her face got redder. "Oh god, what I wouldn't give for a glass of wine right now."

"Yeah." Lois laughed and there was a knock on the door. "Then you'd have an excuse for that out of control blushing." She got off the couch and opened the door. "Well, well, well, speak of the devil." She opened the door wider and smiled as Oliver stepped in the apartment.

"Hey Lois." Oliver said. "Chloe, my meeting didn't take as long as we thought it would so we're headed back tonight. You ready to go home?"

"Actually…" Chloe stood up.

"Where do you get the nerve to put my cousin in a situation where she get's asthma?" Lois poked Oliver in his shoulder. He looked over at Chloe confused. "Don't look at her. Look at me. You want to run around and do your little super hero in leather thing, that's fine, but leave Chloe out of it."

"Hey." Chloe protested.

"You ever try to leave Chloe out of something she doesn't want to be out of?" Oliver smirked.

"Huh." Lois frowned. "Good point."

"Thanks." Oliver smiled.

"But you better start taking better care of her or I will kick your ass, Green Arrow or not." Lois moved to poke him again and Chloe intercepted her finger, putting herself between Oliver and Lois and pushing Oliver out into the hall.

"Just give us a minute ok?" Chloe asked Lois as she closed the door behind her.

"What the hell was that?" Oliver asked amused. "Did you tell her?"

"No." Chloe said. "She figured it out all on her own." Oliver raised his eyebrows. "I know they grow up so fast don't they?"

Oliver laughed. "So are you ready to leave?"

"Actually I think I'm going to stay for a few more days." Chloe put her hands in her pockets nervously. "If that's ok with you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Oliver laughed. "You haven't taken a vacation in two years. It's more than ok with me. Just call me when you're ready and I'll send the jet ok?" Oliver leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Thanks." Chloe blushed as she turned to go inside.

Oliver stuck his head in the door and waved at Lois. "See you later."

"I was raised on thirty two different military bases. I know people." Lois warned him.

"Love you to Lois." Oliver smirked at her before leaving.

"You know people?" Chloe laughed at her.

"What?" Lois said. "I know my limits, I can't take him myself but I can sure get someone else to do it for me."

Chloe frowned. "You're all pouty now." She sat back down. "What's up?"

"He asked if you were ready to come home." Lois frowned.

"Yeah and?" Chloe pressed her.

"Well when you moved to Star City I thought it was just a thing you would do for a while and then come back. Even after two years I still thought that one day you would come back home but you are home aren't you?" Lois asked.

"Yeah." Chloe wrinkled her nose. She'd never really thought of it. Part of her, a small part in the back of her mind had been thinking just like Lois, that her life in Star City was just temporary and she never even realized when it had somehow become her home.

"Ok." Lois sighed, wanting to change the subject. "So I have a really serious question."

"Shoot." Chloe smiled at her.

"How did you last ten years with Clark Kent and not murder him in his sleep?" Lois groaned as Chloe laughed

* * *

Lex sat at his desk rubbing his eyes as he closed the last folder. It was edging on nine o'clock, he'd yet to have any dinner and his stomach was growling. He grabbed the phone to call down to the kitchen and stopped himself. He really felt like eating out tonight. "Marie…" He called out hopefully, he couldn't remember if he'd sent his secretary home yet.

"Yes Mr. Luthor." She walked into the room.

"Get me a table at Maison de Saveur for 10:30." Lex told her and she nodded walking out of the office. He started packing up his briefcase when Marie popped her head back in.

"Heinrick is here to see you."

Lex sighed and checked his watch. "Ok, let him in, cancel the reservation and order me my usual to go and then you can head out for the evening."

"Yes sir." Marie nodded and a second later a tall intimidating man, Lex's head of security, was walking into the office.

"Heinrick." Lex stood up and shook his hand. "Tell me you come with good news."

"The best sir." He smiled and sat down opening his bag and pulling out a disk.

"Drink?" Lex offered.

"No thank you." Heinrick slid the disk to Lex. "We managed to rescue the security footage from the exploded 33.1 lab."

"Green Arrow?" Lex asked, knowing it couldn't have been anything but him and his little crew of vigilantes.

"Yes sir." Heinrick nodded. "You should watch the tape though. There's something on there you might be interested in."

Lex looked at Heinrick confused and slid the disk into his computer, waiting as it loaded. The video popped up on screen and Lex recognized all the usual suspects. There was the one they called Impulse, Cyborg and Green Arrow in one part of the compound and on another screen the Aquaman and the woman whose name Lex had yet to figure out. She was new, just recently started showing up on the security footage the past couple of months. From what he could discern there was no particular power that she possessed so her presence on the team had been nagging at the back of his mind for quite a while now.

He focused his attention on the girl and Aquaman. He knew what the others were doing, setting the explosives. The girl was going after the subjects. She'd freed them from their cells one by one and then she'd come across Megan. What happened to Megan was unfortunate but she didn't know what her power was and unfortunately they'd yet to come up with a test that could tell them what a Meteor freaks specific power was. Their only option had been to experiment on the girl in the hopes of forcing her power to spontaneously manifest itself. They might have gone slightly overboard but the work they were doing was important.

Lex leaned forward and looked at the screen. The girl walked up to Megan lying on the exam table as Aquaman took care of the guards. He watched as the girl reached a hand out to Megan and suddenly the picture on screen was bright white. "What happened?" Lex frowned.

"Just keep watching." Heinrick assured him.

The light slowly receded and Lex could see the screen again. Where before Megan was lying on the table, sweating and moaning in pain, now she was sitting straight up as if nothing happened. As if two minutes ago she wasn't hanging onto life by the skin of her teeth. Lex frowned and watched in amazement as Megan jumped off the table to catch the girl who had collapsed to the ground. Megan screamed for help and Aquaman came over checking the girl for a pulse.

The girl had healed her. Well that answered the question of what her powers were. She'd somehow, within minutes healed all of Megan's wounds, but apparently took them into herself. Aquaman shook his head and lifted her up, carrying her out of the room when her hood feel off, revealing short blonde hair.

Things suddenly became very clear to Lex. He remembered something that had been bothering him, his run in with Chloe the day before at the Talon. Lex studied the all too familiar blonde hair and remembered that was exactly what Megan used to do whenever he got near her. His cologne agitated her lungs, she sneezed three times in a row then took two pulls from the inhaler, every time he was around, without fail, just like Chloe did. Faster and faster he followed what everything was telling him, making connections.

The girl, the healer, healed Megan of her injuries, and technically one of Megan's injuries was asthma. The girl had short blonde hair, Chloe had short blonde hair, Megan used to have the same reaction to Lex that Chloe had just a few days before. Chloe had Megan's asthma, Chloe's meteor power was the ability to heal, Chloe was the woman on the tape. His brain started to put the pieces together even as the images on the screen were telling him what he needed to know.

He watched as Green Arrow slid to a halt in front of Aquaman and the unconscious girl. His father had always said that learning to read lips was a waste of time and effort but not at this moment. He smiled as Green Arrow confirmed what he'd just figured out on his own, saying a desperate and fearful "Chloe?"

"Oh, this day just got better." Lex smiled and leaned back in his seat formulating a plan. "I want someone on Ms. Sullivan at all times, the best you've got."

"The blonde?" Heinrick asked.

"She's going to lead us straight to the Green Arrow." Lex smiled.

"Yes sir." Heinrick nodded. "I've got the perfect guy for the job."

* * *

Chloe walked into her office and was completely unsurprised to find Bart and AC playing Halo on one of her Watchtower monitors. Apparently while she was visiting they decided they liked hanging out in her space better than their space and since she'd come back she hadn't been able to persuade them otherwise. "Hey guys?" She laid her bag on the desk and took off her jacket. "Were you playing Ninja today?"

"I haven't played Ninja in months." AC said.

"I don't have to play Ninja." Bart smirked at her. "I am the Ninja."

Chloe scoffed and walked further in the room. "Is it possible Victor's playing Ninja today?"

"I think he's in San Diego why?" AC turned his attention to Chloe which was the distraction that Bart needed to kill him.

"I don't know, I just had this feeling all day that someone was following me." She shrugged. "So I thought it might be you guys."

"Not us." Bart frowned. "You don't think it was boss man do you?"

"Oliver?" Chloe asked as she sat down at her desk. "When was the last time he played Ninja?"

"Like years." AC said.

Ninja was a game that Chloe invented a few years back. The guys were having an argument about who was the most stealth. After three straight days of the same arguments over and over again Chloe finally proposed a solution. They would have a contest. The game would last for two weeks. In that time period you had to follow and photograph each member of the team without being spotted.

The more pictures you got the more points you got. If you spotted your stalker you got bonus points. If you were spotted while stalking you lost points. Bart won by a ridiculous margin. He was never still enough for anyone to get a shot of him. You couldn't predict his movements because he was just as likely to go to Argentina for Mexican food than down the street to a restaurant. He was also fast enough that no one could ever catch him when he was following them.

Unfortunately he insisted that he be referred to as "The Ninja" from that point forth and never let anyone else live it down that he was better than them. The other guys kept up the game every now and then, randomly following someone else because it was a good way to keep you on your toes and keep your senses sharp.

"You going out again today?" Bart asked.

"I've got some more errands to run this afternoon." Chloe frowned. "Why?"

"I'll follow you to see if it's anything to worry about." Bart offered.

"Thanks." Chloe smiled at him.

"I got your back Watchtower." Bart assured her.

* * *

Four hours later Bart walked in the common area of the boys space soaking wet and covered in what smelled like garbage with Chloe walking behind him, holding her nose closed and trying not to laugh. "Should I ask what's going on?" Oliver stage whispered to Victor who had to set his plate of pizza down when Bart plopped on the sofa next to him, the stink making him lose his appetite. "I should definitely ask what's going on. Don't you think?" Oliver asked Victor.

"You gonna eat that?" Bart grumbled and grabbed the plate before Victor could answer.

Chloe grabbed some coffee and walked into the room staring at Oliver. "Are you going to actually ask?" She smiled.

"What's going on?" Oliver tried not to laugh as Bart pulled a banana peel from under his shirt collar and dropped it casually on the table causing AC and Victor to gag.

"Someone is in fact following me." Chloe sipped her coffee.

"What?" Oliver looked around and noticed that no one else seemed surprised by this development. "Someone's following you?"

"Yeah, that's not the important part." Chloe shoved Oliver's arm off the chair so that she could sit down.

"Oh sorry, someone's following you and that's not the important part of this story?" Oliver asked.

"Bart just walked in here covered in garbage and limping do you want to talk about that or do you want to talk about someone following me?" Chloe looked down at him.

"I want to talk about someone following you." Oliver said incredulously.

"I want to talk about Bart covered in garbage." Victor raised a hand.

"Me too." AC said scooting further away.

"You're outnumbered dude." Chloe shook her head and sighed at the look on Oliver's face. "Relax, the two stories are intertwined."

"Oh." Oliver said. "Continue."

"Anyway, I thought someone was following me so Bart being the ninja that he is, offered to follow me to see if anyone else was doing the same." Chloe said. "So Bart's following me around and he can't see anyone, there's no one suspicious around, no one taking pictures, no familiar faces at any two separate spots right."

"So no one was following you?" Victor asked.

"Someone was following her." Bart grumbled. "I didn't see anyone but, ok." He set the pizza down. "I'm standing on the roof of the Somner building. Chloe's down at the garden center placing an order or something when I feel someone walked up behind me. The next thing I know, I'm falling three stories off the edge of the building into the dumpster behind the Whole Foods."

"You fell off the roof?" Oliver asked him.

"No." Bart shook his head. "No, that is not what happened. Someone pushed me."

"Wait, wait, wait." AC stood up. "Someone got the drop on you?" He looked down at Bart.

"No it's not like that." Bart protested. .

"Someone got the drop on "The Ninja"." Victor smiled. "Does this mean we can stop calling you that?"

"No." Bart shook his head. "It does not."

"But there's obviously someone else out there who is a better ninja than you." AC pointed out. "He'd have to be to catch you off guard right?"

"I hate you guys." Bart glared. "I'm going to shower." He stood up and stopped, reached in his pants and pulled out a handful of something brown. He stared at it for a second and as he brought it up to his nose.

"No, no, no, no, no." Everyone screamed then groaned when Bart sniffed it and recoiled.

"That's disgusting." Bart gagged. "You want to smell?"

"Why do people do that?" Oliver shivered in disgust. "When ever anyone smells anything disgusting they feel the need to share that disgusting smell with everyone else."

"I think it's lettuce." Bart said. He turned into a blur and then he was right next to Victor, holding the handful of brown leaves under his nose. "What do you think? Lettuce?"

"I hate you." Victor gagged and turned to run to the bathroom.

"AC." Bart held out the lettuce. "You want to smell?"

"No, thank you." AC backed away slowly.

"No thank you what?" Bart walked forward menacingly.

"No thank you…" AC swallowed. "Ninja."

"That's right." Bart dumped the lettuce on the ground. "Don't you forget it." He winked before speeding away.

"I just cleaned this place." Chloe looked at the pile of rotten lettuce leaves on the ground. "Is anyone else tempted to sniff it?" Chloe looked up in the deafening silence to see Oliver and AC looking at her horrified. "So just me then?" She asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, just you." AC stepped over the pile of goop to get out of the room.

"So, someone's following you?" Oliver turned to Chloe when they were alone.

Chloe groaned. "I was hoping the hilarity of Bart falling in a dumpster would make you forget about that." Chloe groaned.

"Not a chance." Oliver shook his head. "Look, I've already got Lois on my ass because of the Asthma. The last thing I need is her on my ass about this."

"Oh." Chloe stood and walked to the kitchen. "This is about Lois then?"

"No this is about keeping you safe." Oliver told her. "Someone is following you Chloe. How do you not get the severity of the situation."

"I get it ok." Chloe slammed her coffee cup on the counter. "But honestly Oliver, what do you want me to do?" She turned around. "If I freak out, the guys freak out. If the guys freak out, I can kiss whatever freedom I think I have goodbye and you know it. They won't leave me alone for a second." She took a deep breath. "We don't know what's going on yet so until we do, I don't want to make a big deal about it."

"This guy got the drop on Bart." Oliver said. "I know we make fun him for it, but the dude is really a ninja. For someone to get the drop on Bart it's serious."

"I know." Chloe said. "I'll be careful ok, just give me some time to sort this out."

Oliver stared at her for a while then nodded. "Ok."

* * *

The house was completely silent. The alarm system gave him pause for a few minutes, it was special made and well put together but he hadn't found a system yet that he couldn't get around. She had no pets so he didn't have to worry about that. They might not be able to see him but they would smell him. He made his way through the living room slowly and methodically, taking in all the pictures on the mantel and all the personal items on the fridge. You'd be amazed what you could learn about a person by what they kept laying around the house. Chloe didn't keep much lying around but that's because she wasn't really home that often.

If there was one thing he'd learned following her these past few weeks it was the she was a workaholic. She went into the office at six, sometimes five in the morning and she stayed until ten or eleven at night. A few times she'd pulled all nighters. He hated when she did that because the only place he wasn't able to follow her was into the building. JL Towers is the first place in a long time that he can't get in and it's starting to piss him off. The official reason for this incursion in Chloe's home was to look for a key or a card or a key card that he could clone and use to get in to JL Towers. The unofficial reason was because he could.

Chloe was also one of the most perceptive people he'd ever had the pleasure of following. She always seemed to know exactly when he was behind her and almost exactly where he was. She'd never actually see him of course but every time she turned around and stared right at him, he had to admit, he felt a tiny thrill. If he was honest with himself he'd say he broke in just to see if she'd know.

He dug through her purse and her briefcase but came up empty handed. It was possible she was one of those super paranoid people who slept with their ID's and he slowly and quietly opened the door to her room. She was asleep, probably exhausted. She'd been at her office for 14 hours that day. He slowly tiptoed to the side of her bed and pulled the nightstand drawer open, it was completely empty. He sighed and turned to her sleeping form. She'd rolled over so her face was almost even with his and she let out a sigh. A strand of hair fell from onto her face and her reached a hand out to push it back.

He jumped when she sat up straight in the bed, her eyes wide as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Hello?" She called out, her voice shaky. He screwed up, mentally berating himself for getting to close, for touching her. His heart was beating out of his chest as she patted the nightstand for the lamp switch. He knew even if she turned the light on she wouldn't see him but he was still inexplicably worried.

As her breath came faster and faster he suddenly realized that she wasn't looking for the light switch, she was looking for her inhaler. He saw it, sitting in the middle of the nightstand, her hand nowhere near it as her lips started turning blue. Without thinking he reached out and pushed the inhaler into her hands. As her fingers gripped the edges gratefully, they also grazed his knuckles and she froze. She turned to look straight at him as she pulled the inhaler to her, taking a deep puff while backing off of the bed.

"I know you're there." She whispered quietly. "Show yourself."

He resisted the urge to snort as she climbed off the bed. That wasn't going to happen but he should probably get the hell out of there. He watched her edge her way to the bedroom door and he passed right in front of her, slowly, quietly as he made his way out. Suddenly without warning a bat slammed into the side of his head, spinning him around and breaking his nose. "Son of a bitch." He screamed out and looked. She was holding a bat that he remembered seeing on the other side of the bed. She was good, he never saw her pick it up.

Chloe stood there panting and watched as blood dripped to her carpet out of thin air. She heard someone say, "Son of a bitch." She dropped the bat and turned to the door running. She grabbed her bag and didn't look back as she ran out of the building.

The three blocks to Oliver's apartment were the longest three blocks Chloe had ever run, probably because halfway there her lungs gave out on her. She used the inhaler but since she kept on running it didn't really do any good. She ignored the doorman as he let her in the building and buzzed the elevator open. Chloe tried to use the ride up to get her breathing under control but it was no use. The doors opened to a freshly woken and confused Oliver. "Chloe? What's going on? The doorman called up here and said you flew right past him looking freaked out." Chloe took two steps out of the elevator, wheezing so hard now that practically no air was getting in her lungs. "Chloe?" Oliver's confusion turned to alarm as she gave up trying and fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

"There she is." Dr. Emil smiled down at Chloe as her eyes opened. She reached up and grabbed at the mask on her face. "Hold on, just a few deep breaths for me." Chloe complied and then he helped her to take the mask off.

"What happened?" Chloe asked looking around. She was in Oliver's guest room which had been turned into a sort of emergency hospital room.

"You had a severe attack." Dr. Emil said checking her pulse and pupils.

"You scared the shit out of me, that's what happened." Oliver said from his seat beside the bed. "What the hell Chloe?"

She turned to him and sighed. "I know how the guy got the drop on Bart." She said. "Turns out he's invisible."

"Invisible?" Oliver sat up straighter. "How do you know that?"

"Because he was in my apartment." Chloe felt tears spring to her eyes. "I think I'm officially freaking out now."

Oliver grabbed her hand. "So does that mean I can take over?" Chloe nodded weakly. He smiled and jumped up, not wasting a second he pulled out his phone. "Hey Victor, yeah I know it's three in the morning. I want a team over at Chloe's apartment right now. Someone was in there while she was sleeping." Oliver smiled. "I thought that would get your attention. I want to know everything about them, finger prints, security footage."

"I hit him with a baseball bat." Chloe said. "There's some blood on the carpet in the bedroom."

"There should be some blood in the bedroom. Bring Jordan, see if he can smell anything out of place." Oliver nodded. "And as soon as you guys have everything you need I want a second team in there to pack up her stuff and moved it to the condo at JL Towers." Oliver turned and when he didn't get a protest from Chloe, he realized just how shaken up she was. "She's fine. She was freaked and she had a small attack. She's at my place right now resting but…" Oliver turned when he felt a sharp breeze to see Bart had run into the room and was standing next to Chloe's bed. "She's gonna be fine. I'll meet you there." He closed the phone and turned at Chloe's laugh.

"No seriously." Bart said and Chloe laughed again.

Oliver caught Bart's gaze and they had an unspoken conversation. "You got her?" Oliver asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"I'm not going anywhere." Bart assured Oliver with a nod of his head.

"Keep me updated, I'll be back." Oliver said patting the Doctor on his back.

Oliver walked into Chloe's apartment five minutes later and was surprised at the amount of people who were already there. "Hey." Victor walked over to him. "We've got fingerprints all over the place. Most are Chloe's or ours but we have a lot of unidentified, all the same. He touched everything." Victor shook his head. "The real pay dirt is in the bedroom though."

Oliver followed Victor to the bedroom and they stopped when they saw a lab tech swabbing blood from the carpet. She looked up when they came in. "Do you think the Landlord would mind if I cut this part out of the carpet?"

"I'll buy him a new damn carpet." Oliver snapped then softened. "Do what you have to do and let me deal with the Landlord ok?" The woman nodded as AC walked up with Jordan. "Anything?"

"He was by her bed. I've got at least three good prints of the nightstand." AC growled.

"What about you?" Oliver asked Jordan through gritted teeth.

"Oh don't you worry boss man, I got this dude's smell." Jordan said.

"Thanks for helping out." Oliver sighed. "How'd you get all these people here so quickly."

"Dude." Jordan looked at him as if it was obvious. "It's Chloe." He smiled as if that explained everything and as he watched people from JL Towers, some that he'd barely even met doing everything from checking for prints to carefully and lovingly boxing up Chloe's belongings he realized it did explain everything.

* * *

Lex sat behind his desk annoyed for many reasons. One was the fact that it was three in the morning. The other was the fact that he'd run out of his favorite scotch the day before and no one had bothered to replace it. The third and main reason was the man in front of him, or he assumed it was a man in front of him, all he could really see was a piece of floating tissue paper slowly soaking up blood. "Explain to me again how she managed to hit you?"

"She got lucky." The boy said, his voice distorted by what Lex assumed was a broken nose.

"You're invisible." Lex pointed out.

"Like I said she got lucky." The boy snapped.

"I think what actually happened is, you got sloppy." Lex smirked at him. "So now she knows someone's watching her."

"Trust me there's nothing to connect me to you." The boy assured him.

"You obviously don't know Miss Sullivan the way I do." Lex leaned back in his chair. "She won't need solid proof trust me."

"Why don't you just let me bring her in?" The boy said. "Then we won't have to worry about what she knows."

"Miss Sullivan is not the prize." Lex explained. "She's the bait. You've written up all your reports? Given everything you know to Heinrick?"

"Yeah." The boy said. "Why?"

"Just making sure I know everything you know." Lex pulled a gun out of nowhere and shot in the middle of the chair, directly underneath the floating tissue. The tissue fell to the ground as blood poured out of what looked like thin air. He pushed a button and two men walked in. "Take care of Mr. Anderson for me would you?"

"Sure thing Boss." One of the guys said, simply picking up the chair and removing it from the room as the other guy grabbed a box from the closet and started working at getting the blood out of the carpet.

Lex leaned over his phone and dialed a number. "Heinrick, it's time to move onto phase two."


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Author's Note: I know I kind of just left this go to the wayside but I was totally caught up with my other fic. It's the last time I post two stories at once. So here's chapter Three, I've got a big project at work so I don't know when the next update will be but don't give up on me. As always reviews are definitly appreciated.

* * *

"I work ten floors down from here." Chloe argued with her hands on her hips. "I didn't protest when you took over and moved my entire life, moved me out of my apartment and into the Tower, possibly because I was slightly out of it at the time."

"You gave me permission to do that." Oliver told her.

"I was under the influence of narcotics." Chloe shook her head.

"You were under the influence of Oxygen." Oliver countered.

"Whatever. The point is, I've let you take control for the past week and I can't do that anymore, I need control back." Chloe pleaded with him.

Oliver thought about it for a second. "Can we share control?"

"Oliver!" Chloe groaned at him.

"Ok, sorry." Oliver held his hands up in defeat. "So then that was a no on the sharing?"

"I need to get out of this room, I need to get out of this apartment." Chloe said.

"You can't leave." Oliver told her. "Someone is following you, we don't know who, we don't know why and we can't even see them because they are invisible. So I can't keep you safe out there."

"What about in here." Chloe looked around. "You built this place into a fortress; no one gets in here unless you want them to. Why do I have to stay in this tiny little apartment when there's basically a whole city in this building?"

"You make a good point." Oliver said grudgingly.

"I just want to go into my office." Chloe said. "I want to go buy my own groceries, sit out in the garden."

"The groceries are doable. The office debatable. The garden, not going to happen." Oliver said.

"Come on. It's not like it's in the middle of the city, it's on the roof of a fifty three story building." Chloe fell against the couch, frowned and looked down. "Did you buy me a new couch?"

Oliver looked at her strangely. "What?" He scoffed. "Why would I buy you a new couch?"

Chloe jumped up and started to flip over the cushions. She finished, turned to Oliver and glared at him. "You did buy me a new couch. There was a red wine stain on the other side of one of the cushions."

Oliver sighed. "Fine, I bought you a new couch." He threw his hands in the air. "It was looking a little worse for wear so when we moved your stuff I replaced it with a new one."

Chloe glared at him and went over to inspect all her other furniture only to end up in the kitchen fuming. "All of my furniture is new." Oliver winced. "You replaced all my furniture with new furniture that looked exactly like my old furniture." She closed her eyes, praying for the strength to be able to deal with him. "It's not like my goldfish died. What kind of a person does something like that?"

Oliver opened his mouth to explain his actions but he couldn't. Everyone else was doing something to track down the guy that had broken into Chloe's place but there wasn't anything he could do. Victor had the computer angle covered. Bart was doing re-con on any rumors of people with the power of invisibility. AC and Jordan were, as strange as it sounded, sniffing the city for any trace of this guys scent. He felt useless so when he noticed the couch was a little worn, he knew Chloe wouldn't let him buy her new furniture, so he replaced it. Then he saw the coffee table looked worse for wear, so he replaced that, then he just kept going and soon all of her furniture was new. "So the garden?" He offered instead and Chloe smiled.

"I knew we could come to some sort of an agreement." Chloe pinched his cheek. "I'm going to go get dressed and head to the office."

Oliver frowned; pondering what had just happened then crossed his arms over his chest. "You just played me there didn't you?"

Chloe stuck her head out of the door to her bedroom. "Oliver, really. I've been stuck in here for a week you didn't think I'd notice?"

She went back inside and emerged a few minutes later, slipping her shoes on. "How long have you been doing this to me? This tricking me into letting you do stuff?"

"How long have we known each other?" Chloe asked.

"You can't be serious." Oliver said.

"The day we met you were giving me pictures from Black Thursday for me to do a newspaper article." Oliver nodded remembering. "Did you ever read a newspaper article written by me about Dark Thursday?" Oliver frowned. "I've got to go."

Chloe walked into her office and let out a sigh of relief. She'd been working from her apartment since the incident but there were just so many things she needed to do that she couldn't do over the phone. She smelled coffee and spun around confused. "Morning Miss Sullivan." Megan set a cup of coffee on the desk. "That's decaf."

"Thanks." Chloe grabbed the cup confused. "Why are you bringing me coffee?" Chloe grabbed her desk calendar which was magically a whole lot more organized than when she left it. "Did we have an appointment?"

"No." Megan sat down. "No one talked to you about this?"

"Talked to me about what?" Chloe frowned as her phone rang. She saw Oliver's name and answered it.

"Chloe I forgot to mention. Megan needed a job and I've been telling you for the past few months that you needed an assistant so I thought the best solution was obvious." Oliver told her.

"You just took it upon yourself to hire me an assistant?" Chloe asked incredulously.

"You're the one always telling people to do what they want, do what they're good at and she's good at being an assistant." Oliver said. Chloe wanted to let him have it, tell him that he couldn't control her life but after this morning she could give him this little victory. Also in the week that she'd been gone everything had been organized into files and trays and her calendar was actually readable. A peak at her computer let her know that her desktop had also been cleaned up. "Plus, you know technically you have her asthma, so she knows better than anyone what can trigger it and how to react in certain situations." Oliver said nonchalantly.

Chloe leaned back in her chair, things suddenly clear. "You sneaky bastard." A small smile spread on her lips.

"Who me?" Oliver asked.

"This whole thing was planned." Chloe said. "You caved this morning on the garden so that I would cave on the assistant."

"Quid Pro Quo." Oliver laughed as he hung up the phone.

Chloe glared at her phone for a second the dropped it on the counter. "If it makes you feel better, this is what I do." Megan told her.

"I'm sorry." Chloe looked up at the girl.

"I was a personal assistant in my previous life." Megan said. "A damn good one if I do say so myself. I had a look at your schedule. I don't know how you've been doing this all by yourself. I can keep you on task, I can keep you organized." Chloe still looked skeptical. "Give me a week trial period. If it doesn't work out, I'll help Holly in the library or something."

"Ok. One week." Chloe agreed.

"Great." Megan grinned and stood up.

* * *

Lex flipped through the plans on the table in front of him and looked up at Heinrick. "You're positive this will work?"

"I've got a reliable source. It'll do what you want but if you give me a little more time I can do so much more." Heinrick told him.

"No. I need to do this quick and dirty. I know it's not your preferred method but it'll have to do for now." Lex sighed. He passed the folder back. "Go ahead and start production and I want to see a finished product in three weeks." Lex went back to his work and ignored his head of security.

"Yes sir." Heinrick nodded and turned to go but he stopped. "What's our endgame here sir?"

"Excuse me?" Lex looked up, not sure if he was more confused that Heinrick was questioning him or that he was thinking that far ahead.

"Our endgame in all this?" Heinrick asked. "What is it?"

"You really want to know?" Lex seemed more amused now.

"Yes sir." Heinrick nodded.

"Have a seat." Lex closed his computer.

* * *

A week went by, then two weeks, and then a month and you'd never have guessed that Chloe and Megan had ever not been together. They worked like a well oiled machine. Megan anticipated all of Chloe's needs before she knew she needed them and she'd never been more organized. "Do you have the file on…" Megan dropped something in front of Chloe and smiled. "Are the quotes for the new equipment…"

"I e-mailed them to you five minutes ago." Megan flipped open the book that she constantly carried around with her. "You've got an appointment in R&D at ten thirty and Victor has requested a few hours of your time this afternoon to go over the new security protocols."

"Sure, if I can fit him in." Chloe agreed and Megan made a note of it.

"You've got ten minutes after lunch." Megan told her. Chloe looked over her shoulder and frowned. The planner Megan had wasn't standard as far as she could see.

"Let me see this thing." Chloe lifted the book and gasped. She hadn't realized how heavy it was, it felt like it weighed around fifteen pounds. Chloe flipped through the pages astonished. "You plan my day out down to the minute?" Chloe flipped more pages. "It takes like twenty pages for one day."

"Twenty five." Megan said taking the book back. "And that is my job."

Chloe scrutinized her assistant more carefully. "Are we sure that super organizational skills are your meteor power?" Chloe grabbed for one of the candies in the bowl on the edge of her desk and popped it in her mouth.

"I'm sure. I called Doctor Emil and pushed back your appointment to four." Megan told her. "Mr. Queen called. He's still not sure he'll be able to make it but he says he'll try."

"He's still stuck at Star Labs?" Chloe groaned and Megan nodded. She didn't mind when Oliver missed her doctor's appointments, not nearly as much as he did. He insisted he be there for each and every test and scan and check up and Chloe thought it was much ado about nothing. What she didn't like was the fact that Oliver was working on a really big merger at the moment and more and more lately Chloe was feeling like JL Towers was the mistress to Star Labs. They were getting down to the nitty gritty of the deal now and Oliver had been in his office for the past three days straight.

"It's time for your medicine. I'll be right back with a cup of tea." Chloe groaned. "You had coffee this morning. I'll let you have the Lemon Raspberry."

"Fine." Chloe dropped her head to the desk.

She felt her hair blow around her and looked up annoyed. Bart was sitting on the edge of her desk playing with her stress ball. "Bart, I've got a packed day, I haven't had my morning tea, I don't even want my morning tea and I have a feeling my doctor's appointment is going to be the exact same thing it's been for the past six months."

"What?" Bart turned to Chloe confused. "Oh hey Chloe. Have you seen Megan?"

"Have I…" Chloe tilted her head to the side and watched as Megan came in with Chloe's tea balanced precariously on her planner.

"Here, let me get that for you." Bart sped over to Megan and grabbed the cup from her carefully and dropped it haphazardly in front of Chloe, sloshing tea on her desktop. In a second he was back at Megan's side saying something that made her giggle. Chloe wiped the spilt tea up with an old memo and she came to a very startling conclusion.

* * *

"Oliver you in here?" Chloe called out as she walked into her apartment. She'd gotten a text at the office saying he was waiting for her in her apartment to talk.

"In the kitchen." Oliver screamed.

"Something smells good." Chloe shed her jacket on the couch and walked into the kitchen. "Are you cooking?" She jumped on the bar stool and as he stirred a pot. "You are cooking."

"Just a quick pasta." He said smiling at her. "You don't look so good. Was the doctor's appointment bad?"

"No, it was fine." Chloe brushed him off. "It's just; I think I've been replaced."

"Replaced by what?" Oliver passed her a glass of wine.

"Not what." Chloe looked at the wine then back at Oliver and he took it away and passed her a bottle of water. "Who."

"Who have you been replaced by?" Oliver corrected himself.

"Megan." Chloe reached over and grabbed a tomato out of the salad and tossed it in her mouth.

"How exactly is Megan replacing you?" Oliver slapped her hand from the salad again.

"Bart comes to my office every day, not to see me, but to see her." Chloe said. "I think he has a crush on her. I mean she's cute and she's younger than me."

Oliver walked over to the other barstool and sat down. "Are you jealous? Of Megan?"

"What? No." Chloe scoffed at him. "Maybe." She winced and looked up at Oliver embarrassed. "Yes." She dropped her head on the counter. "I'm jealous." Oliver started laughing. "Don't do that." She looked up at him glaring. "It's not funny."

"You're right it's not funny?" Oliver smiled at her. "It's hilarious. Chloe loves Bart."

"It's not even about that, shut up." Chloe slapped him. "It's just, ok, you talk about how you hate that whole playboy, paparazzi lifestyle but if it just vanished tomorrow, you'd miss the attention."

Oliver thought for a second then shook his head. "Nope, that's not it. You love him, you want to have his speedy little babies."

"You're an ass." Chloe shoved him off his barstool and as he righted himself he yawned. "And I'm an idiot, you must be exhausted." She frowned at him. "We can do this tomorrow if that would be better."

"No I'm fine." Oliver said as he yawned again. "I want to hear what the doctor said."

"You've been in that suit since Monday morning." Chloe jumped off the stool, walked over and rubbed his cheek. "You've got 12 billion o'clock shadow. At least go shower, get more comfortable. I'll get Bart to bring you some clothes over. I can take over the pasta." He looked at her dubiously. "What?"

"It's just." He said smiling. "As genius as you are with practically everything else, I seem to recall that you have a knack for ruining even the easiest meal."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You burn rice one time and suddenly you can't be trusted with a stove top."

"It wasn't just rice and it definitely wasn't just once." Oliver reminded her.

"You've done all the hard work, I just have to cook the noodles." She grabbed the spoon. "Go, shower, I'll be fine." She pushed him to the bedroom.

Twenty minutes later Oliver walked out of the bedroom feeling a lot better. He'd showered and changed and was suddenly starving when he smelled something funny. He walked down the hall and into the kitchen to see Chloe with the windows and balcony door open, waving smoke out into the night. "What did you do?"

"I burnt the noodles." She said sheepishly. He looked into the now ruined pot, grabbed another one and started the process all over. "I got bored watching the water boil and I've been putting off updating your computer and I just forgot." She said sheepishly. "Good news? You can now run a small country from your laptop." She smiled at him.

"Awesome I've always wanted to run my own country. How about Liechtenstein?" Oliver smiled as he set the new pot of pasta to boil. "It's not too small, not too large, we could probably singlehandedly overthrow the Government with just Bart and Victor."

"As long as we let the Monarchs retain their titles, they could get the people to accept us no problem." Chloe offered.

"It's right in between Switzerland and Austria, it's in Europe but not a part of the EU. There's great skiing, I could hold a winter Olympics." Oliver seemed excited.

"Yeah it's also one of the world's largest Tax havens so we'll have a lot of income." Chloe said climbing back up on her bar stool. "On the other hand I'd have to learn German."

Oliver smiled over at her and fixed her a plate, sliding it in front of her. "That's true." He fixed his own plate and sat down next to her. "So Liechtenstein's a no go?"

"Let's put it on the back burner." Chloe grabbed her fork. "The both of us know far too much about Liechtenstein you know that right?"

"I blame Wikipedia." Oliver took a bite. "What did the doctor say?"

"He says that he thinks there was a significant improvement between this month's scans and last month's scans, but he used the word significant the way we might use the word microscopic." Chloe sighed.

"But he used the word improvement?" Oliver asked.

"He thinks so. He says not to get my hopes up but something's definitely happening." She sighed. "I'm still using my inhaler just as much as I was before but he's the doctor right."

Chloe didn't feel like talking about it anymore so she asked Oliver about the merger. He explained that it had taken twenty four hours to convince Bill Robbins that they weren't planning on dismantling his company and another forty eight hours to cobble together a new contract that would let Robbins retain a veto on major policy decisions. As the night progressed however three days of no sleep seemed to be catching up with Oliver. "I have a great idea." He said as he rested on her couch.

"What?" Chloe looked at him confused.

"I need to tell Jeff." Oliver pulled out his phone and squinted at it for a second, trying to dial something. "And Madeline."

"It's eleven o'clock at night, why are you calling them?" Chloe frowned.

"One word. Commercial space travel." Oliver told Chloe as if it were obvious.

"Ok, that's three words and now you're talking gibberish." She grabbed the phone from him. "You definitely don't need to call your stock holders like this. What you need is sleep." She stood and pulled him up, practically dragging him down the hall and into the guestroom. He fell onto the bed and she pulled off his shoes and then his pants. "Sit up." She laughed pulling him to a sitting position as she worked the buttons on his shirt. He halted her progress when he grabbed her wrists.

"I remember this." He said to her, smiling slightly.

"I'm surprised." She said continuing to undo the buttons. "The last time I did this, was after a very long night of drinking."

"You wouldn't stay." Oliver looked at her seriously. His hand moved up from her wrist, along her arm to settle on her neck.

"Because you were drunk and didn't know what you were asking." She reminded him, looking up to his face, which he used as an opportunity to pull her closer and crush his lips to hers.

"I'm not drunk now." Oliver said suddenly serious as he pulled back and before Chloe could do anything he was kissing her again. She pulled away that time, resting her forehead against his.

"You are, none the less impaired." She told him. "And I…" She lifted her head up, a strange feeling that he wasn't listening to her and she smiled, he was asleep. She finished pulling his shirt off and let him fall back on the bed.

She walked to the kitchen in a daze, not sure exactly what it is she should be feeling at the moment. Since moving away from Lois and Clark, Oliver had become her best friend. She was possibly even closer to him than she'd been with Clark. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel anything when he kissed her but that didn't mean it was a good idea. She started washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, allowing her mind to wander to the man asleep in her guest room. He was her best friend, he was her boss, he was all at once the most amazing and infuriating man that she'd ever met and if she was perfectly honest with herself she'd wanted to kiss him since the day they broke ground on JL Towers.

She turned off all the lights, double checked that all the doors and windows were locked and made her way to her bedroom, resolving to forget that kiss ever happened, hoping Oliver was too tired to remember too. When she woke up the next morning she braced herself for awkward small talk over coffee and bagels but found a note on the bar where Oliver should have been sitting. It basically said that they'd had another emergency at the office and thanked her for the diner and the nap. She felt relieved and slightly upset as she got ready for work.

She wanted to get to the office and immerse herself in her work and just forget about the night before. When she opened her door though, Oliver was standing there with a cup of coffee in his hands. "I need to apologize for my behavior last night." He said as Chloe walked further into the room. "I come bearing gifts." He held out the coffee cup and she smiled sheepishly at him.

"Thanks." She set down her briefcase down and grabbed the cup. "About last night." She walked around the desk. "Don't worry about it really." She took a sip. "You were exhausted."

"I really was." He smiled at her.

"You could barely keep your eyes open during dinner. I should have insisted you go to sleep a lot earlier. I understand that you said and did some things that you probably didn't mean, we can forget about the kiss…"

"Hold on." Oliver raised a hand moving closer. "I'm not here to apologize for kissing you."

"Oh." Chloe looked at him. "You aren't?"

"No I'm here to apologize for falling asleep before we could get to the good stuff." He smiled at her and took another step forward.

"Good stuff?" Chloe asked confused.

"Yeah." Oliver said. "Good stuff." He closed the distance between them in one smooth step and captured her mouth again, this time he was wide awake and by god did that make a difference. She set her coffee cup on the counter to wrap her hands around his back as he slowly backed her up to the desk. His hands tangled in her hair, moved down her back, to her waist, lower and she shut of her mind and let her body take over. Chloe wasn't sure how long they'd been kissing but she was sure that if they hadn't been interrupted she would have done something she'd probably regret.

"Holy crap." They heard a familiar voice and jumped apart as if burned. Chloe looked up to see Megan standing there staring at her in disbelief.

"Meg." She pushed the hair out of her face. "What are you, what are you doing here?" Chloe asked as Oliver faced the desk to compose himself.

"Jordan and Holly have an appointment." Megan said suddenly. "You're supposed to go over the expense reports for this month."

"Right." Chloe said smiling. "Sure, I must have forgotten, it just slipped my mind." She realized she was talking too much and Megan was looking at her funny.

"Chloe." She said and smiled. "You're…" Megan pointed to her pants, "You didn't…zip."

Chloe looked down and realized that her pants were unzipped and wondered when Oliver had done that. She quickly turned to zip them. Oliver seemed to recover just as Jordan and Holly walked in. "Hey Mr. Q. actually can I talk to you in hall for a second?" Jordan asked and Oliver nodded.

Chloe frowned as Jordan said something that Oliver obviously didn't want to hear, checked his watch then slapped him on the back. He poked his head back in the door and smiled. "Holly, good to see you." Oliver nodded and turned to Chloe. "Well I just came by to…I'll call you later." Oliver smiled as he walked out. "Megan." He nodded at Megan who was steadfastly staring at Chloe.

"All right, first things first, breakfast? I'm starving and I can't talk numbers on an empty stomach." Chloe smiled.

"Ryan's in the kitchen today and he's making crepes this morning." Jordan pointed out.

"Works for me." Chloe smiled. "You guys go ahead and I'll grab the files." Jordan and Holly walked out of the office and Chloe gathered up her stuff. She noticed that Megan was still staring at her. "Not now."

"Oh My God!" Megan walked forward, pushing her voice to a whisper. "Oh My God." She practically squealed. "I just walked in here to see you two seconds away from an NC-17 rating. What if Holly had been with me? It would have scared her for life."

"It wasn't that bad." Chloe said.

"It was." Megan countered. "It was totally that bad. You've been sitting here for months telling me that you guys are just friends. Friends don't do that."

"What?" Chloe blew hair out of her face. "Friends totally make out all the time."

"No, they really don't." Megan laughed at her. "Chloe and Oliver sitting in a tree."

Chloe sent Megan a "remember I'm your boss" glare and she immediately shut up. "Like you're one to talk." She pointed out. "Every second you're not working, you're talking or texting or flirting with Bart. Oh yeah I noticed."

Megan blushed and moved to protest but she really couldn't. "Fine. That is true." Megan said walking to the cafeteria with Chloe. "But you've never come into your office and found him with my hand down his pants."

"You didn't…I mean my hand wasn't…" Chloe tried to remember if that had actually happened.

"Oh yeah." Megan nodded.

"Shit." Chloe blushed bright red and she started panicking. Her airway started to close and the only thing she could do was get annoyed that she didn't have an attack while she was with Oliver because maybe it would have brought her to her senses. "Oh I'm so screwed." Chloe panted as she patted her pockets and came up empty.

Megan rolled her eyes and pulled the inhaler out of her pocket and passed it to Chloe. "You left it on your desk." Chloe took a puff and then let out a long breath.

She barely managed to pay attention as Jordan and Holly, well mainly Jordan went over the expense reports for the library, the garden and the Movie Theater, which Jordan was in charge of. She was pretty sure she signed off on a relatively reasonable three month budget projection but for all she knew she sighed a form allowing Jordan to dip all the chairs in the theater in gold. "Did I approve Jordan's request to install an I-MAX theater?"

"No." Megan assured her as they made their way to the elevator.

"Good." Chloe said. "Is it time to go home yet?" Megan just smirked at her. "I do believe I'm going to be completely useless today."

"Really? Would that have anything to do with a certain hot hot hottie that was in your office this morning?" Megan raised her eyebrows.

"Oliver is…" Chloe froze as the doors to the elevator opened. "Still here." She said slightly panicky. "He's in the elevator." She said to Megan through clenched teeth.

"I see that." Megan smiled at her.

They must have been standing there for a while because the doors started to close and Oliver reached his hand out to open it again. "Are you guys getting on?"

Chloe turned to Megan completely confused. "Are we getting on?" She asked her.

"Well you've got a meeting downtown in twenty minutes." Megan said. "So unless you've learned to fly we need to get to the garage."

"Right." Chloe smiled and Oliver moved to let her in. She stopped and frowned. "We can take the stairs right, I mean it's good exercise and we don't want to crowd you guys in there. You might wanna, pace or something."

"We're on the forty third floor and you get winded going to the bathroom." Megan smirked at her.

"So elevator it is." Chloe said sheepishly and walked in the elevator. Megan squeezed to the back next to Victor.

Megan couldn't hide her smile and Victor looked between Oliver and Chloe who were making it a point to be as far away from each other as possible in the small space. He turned to Megan confused and shrugged. She looked at Oliver then at Chloe and then she mimed making out with her forearm.

Chloe turned around and Megan immediately stopped. Victor still looked confused and Megan tried to figure out what else she could do to convey her message when the elevator lurched to a stop. Chloe stepped forward and punched the button for the garage violently, smiling slightly at Oliver then punching it a few more times when nothing happened. It fell a few more floors very slowly then ground to a halt and all the lights went out. "Yeah, this makes the day so much better." Chloe sighed and leaned against the wall.

"What's going on?" Megan asked confused as Chloe pulled out her phone to use it as a flashlight.

"Well since the backup generators haven't kicked in yet it means a total system lockdown." Chloe sat on the floor.

"Which means a level one security breach." Victor sighed and sat down with her.

"Which means?" Oliver asked them.

"We're screwed." Chloe smiled up at him and turned her phone for everyone to see. "Anyone want to play tic tack toe?"

* * *

Lex was tryign his hardest not to roll his eyes as the Senator once again went on a rant about cutting defense spending and moving contracts from LuthorCorp to other companies if they didn't cut thier budget by half. Lex knew that it was all grand standing. The Senator did this every now and then, he'd rant for a while, up on his high horse, then remember that Lex was the one that paid for his beach house, Lex was the one that got his kid into the ultra exclusive private school and Lex was the one who'd gotten him elected in the first place and everythign would go back to normal. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out to read a text message. "Phase Two Initiated". He smiled and slid the phone back in his pocket deciding he'd give the Senator another five minutes then he was putting an end to this.

* * *

Chloe was pacing the small elevator trying to think of something, anything that would get them out. "I can't believe you didn't put in a back door." Oliver said for the hundredth time.

"We didn't have time." Chloe said again.

"What's a back door and why do we need one?" Megan asked tapping Chloe's screen, which put a X in the top right hand corner and passed it back to her. Chloe frowned when she realized she wasn't going win this game and turned the phone off.

"A level one security breach is something that threatens all the internal systems of the Tower." Victor explained. "Which is pretty much everything in the Tower. All the computers, all the lights, all the locks, all the elevators, everything is controlled by the central network. If there is a level one security breach to protect itself the system completely shuts down. The doors automatically lock, the computers shut themselves down and we basically go silent."

"That seems slightly risky to me." Megan pointed out. "And stupid." She looked around. "Especially given the circumstances."

"That's what I said when they explained it to me four years ago." Oliver pointed out.

"The thing about a level one security breach is that it's the absolute, could never happen, worst case scenario. It's like a nuclear attack on the heels of an earthquake while in the middle of a hurricane." Chloe said. "It was never intended that there actually be a level one breach. The odds were like 1 in a bajillion."

"That's not a real number." Megan pointed out.

"Exactly." Chloe said. "That's how sure we were that we'd never have a breach."

"So where does this back door come in?" Megan asked.

"A back door is not a real door." Victor told her. "It's like a way to sneak into the system and start a reboot."

"How do you sneak into a system that's completely shut down?" Megan asked.

"See, I'm not the only one who asks these types of questions." Oliver pointed to Megan. "You get a raise."

Chloe glared at Oliver. "You wanted the system up and running in two days. We couldn't lay in the back door in two days and we didn't ever see the need for a back door. So I helped Victor create an override structure that would allow us to put the mainframe offline at a later date to install said back door."

"An override structure." Oliver stood up excited. "Ok, this is only going to be useful if it's activated by a verbal command." He said and Chloe smiled.

"Great." Victor collapsed with relief.

"I'm confused." Megan said.

"With the system shut down a verbal command will override all previous instructions and force an automatic reboot." Victor explained smiling.

"Great." Megan smiled. "So what's the command?"

They all turned to Chloe whose smile slowly faded. "I can't remember." She looked at Victor hopefully.

"Don't look at me." He said holding his hands up. "I didn't even remember putting it in."

"You can't remember the word?" Megan groaned.

"We purposely chose a word that was one of the least used words in the English language so you wouldn't accidently restart the system in the middle of conversation." Chloe said.

"Ok, you have to think, this was years ago right?" Oliver said to her and she nodded. "Were you living in Star City yet or still in Metropolis?"

"I'd just moved in." Chloe said thinking it through. "I was working with Dr. Emil on setting up the Medical Bay." Oliver nodded. "And that's when Victor called to go over the perimeters for the base programming."

"Good, keep going." Oliver said.

"It was just after Christmas." She looked up excited. "I remember because I was complaining about the lack of snow. The college bowl games were going on and Bart spent all day setting up my entertainment center so we could watch the Rose Bowl. Texas and USC."

"Texas beat USC by four points." Oliver nodded. "I couldn't believe that, do you remember that touchdown?"

"Nineteen seconds left in the game, 4th and 5. Young takes the ball and…" Chloe remembered.

"Hey, not helping." Megan said looking between the two of them.

"Right, so the game ended pretty late, and I was drunk." Oliver just chuckled and nodded. "And the next day, Victor called for my help. I remember being really hung over and I had a splitting headache and…" She strained her memory as everyone waited on the edge of their seats. "That's it." Chloe shook her head.

"You can remember the details of the last 19 seconds of a football game from two years ago but you can't remember a word?" Megan looked at her confused.

"It was a really good game." Oliver came to Chloe's defense.

"Great, is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" Megan asked.

"You just need to calm down, it's all in your head." Chloe tried to soothe her.

"Actually it's not." Victor said. "See the air circulation is also connected to the network."

"So we're running out of air?" Chloe asked. "Well that's awesome."

"Everyone else in the building should be fine, the rooms were built for good airflow but this is a tiny space." Victor frowned.

Megan's phone beeped and Chloe, Victor, and Oliver all turned to her confused. "Sorry, it's Bart, we were supposed to go to lunch an hour ago."

"You have service?" Victor snatched the phone from her rather rudely and Megan frowned.

"Uh yeah? You don't?" She asked confused.

"You don't think we would have called someone by now?" Chloe asked her.

"Our phones are carried on a Queen Satellite signal and the main relay is connected to the network." Victor frowned up at her. "So is yours."

"This is my other phone." Megan said sheepishly. "Bart and I were texting quite a bit and I didn't feel right doing that on a company phone so I got a disposable one just for texting from Verizon. Was that a bad thing?"

"That was a very very good thing." Victor smiled at her. "I can't call him because the elevator would block most of the signal but I can text. If I can talk to Bart there may be some things we can try to force a reboot. The Hospital has a few private generators that aren't hardwired and if we can get him to rig that up to the mainframe…"

"Bart?" Oliver asked. "Really?"

"I'll ask him to get AC too." Victor said.

"Good plan." Oliver fell back to the floor.

* * *

Chloe no longer had the strength to hold her head up any more and it was resting against Oliver's leg as her breathing became uneven. Victor had been texting back and forth with Bart for a few hours now and they'd tried everything he could think of to get the system restarted with no luck, the air was getting very thin and her lungs were starting to notice. "Do you have your inhaler?" Oliver looked down at her suddenly and the uneven breathing turned into a wheeze. Everything finally caught up with her, the lack of oxygen and the receding adrenaline.

"Pocket." She managed to choke out.

"What's going on?" Victor looked up from the phone.

"She's having an attack." Oliver said reaching in her pocket and pulling out her inhaler. He grabbed the back of her neck and forced her head up. "Deep breath, for me, come on." He said pushing on the inhaler as she breathed in. "One more?" He asked and she nodded, her eyes half closed and he did it again. He removed the inhaler, dropped it in his pocket and her breathing evened out until she was better. He grabbed her wrist and checked her pulse and then grabbed her face and looked at her eyes.

"No sense worrying about an asthma attack, I'm just gonna die of lack of oxygen." She joked with him.

"You aren't going to die." He said to her sternly, no joking in his voice at all and she nodded. "Just stay awake."

"Talk to me." Chloe requested. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"I mean you probably had tons of meetings at Star Labs, why were you still here?" She looked up at him. "Did it have something to do with what Jordan talked to you about earlier?"

Oliver considered lying to her but thought better of it. "Yes." Chloe looked at him expectantly. "He and AC had been following up on some leads regarding your invisible stalker. They were actually having lunch when Jordan apparently caught his scent."

"They found him?" Chloe asked excited.

"Dead." Oliver said. "Shot twice in the chest and dumped in an alley. I was coordinating with Victor on getting the body back here to see if there was anything we can get from it."

"I know one thing. He was working for someone else." Chloe said.

"That's what we thought." Oliver nodded.

"So we're back to square one?" Chloe sighed. "Hey Oliver, about this morning…" Just as she was about to do something stupid and confess her love but she was saved by the lights turning back on and the elevator starting up.

"What did you do?" Oliver turned to Victor.

"Nothing." Victor said. "When the threat is over the system is set to come on automatically but…" The doors opened and Bart and AC were standing on the other side looking just as confused as Victor.

"Oh my God are you ok?" Bart asked and Chloe started to assure him she was fine when he stepped over her to help Megan to her feet.

"See, told you." Chloe whispered as Oliver stood and pulled her to her feet.

"Let's get you to the Hospital wing. I want to make sure the gas didn't do any lasting damage to your lungs." Oliver smiled.

"I'm fine." Chloe assured him.

"Humor me." Oliver said.

"Conquistador." Chloe said suddenly.

"What?" Oliver looked down at her afraid she'd either gone loopy from lack of oxygen or he just wasn't getting the joke.

"That's the override command word." She smiled up at him. "Conquistador."

He just laughed as they walked through the doors. "Hey." Victor looked over at Megan. "What were you trying to tell me in the elevator?"

"Oh Chloe and Oliver, this morning, her office, total make out session." Megan said.

Bart, AC, and Victor turned to her surprised then Victor frowned. "That thing you did with your arm was supposed to mean making out? How was that supposed to mean making out?"

"Ok ,hi, who honestly cares about Megan's crappy miming skills when she just dropped a bomb on us like that." AC pointed out. "No offense Megan."

"They're not crappy." Megan grunted.

"So like how serious was this making out?" AC asked her.

* * *

Oliver hovered the whole time she was being checked out and he finally let out his breath when the doctor said she was fine but to keep her inhaler with her at all times and let him know if she experienced any more trouble. "I'll take you home." Oliver said, relieved.

"Thanks." Chloe said getting up on her own; her head clearer now after the oxygen treatment the doctor had given her.

They walked into her apartment and she tiredly sat down on the sofa. "It's been a long day." She said her eyes partially closed.

"Tell me about it." He sat down for a second, the events of the day catching up to him. "I'm exhausted."

"Rest for a bit before heading home." Chloe sighed. "Can't have you survive the elevator only to get in a car wreck."

Oliver chuckled. "Just for a minute." He said his eyes closing slowly. "And I'll…" He trailed off as he fell asleep.

* * *

"We're you successful?" Lex asked as Heinrick walked in the room.

"You're up and running." Heinrick nodded. "It took me a while, but while the system was overloaded dealing with the larger breach and I was able to sneak in the back way. It's just video, no sound, no access to the system…"

"That's all I need." Oliver assured him opening a window on his computer and smiling as he saw Oliver Queen helping Chloe Sullivan down a hallway. "The other thing we discussed?"

"Signed, sealed delivered." Heinrick assured him. "Just say the word."

"Good." Lex smiled his eyes never leaving the screen.


	4. Chapter 4

Bright light's woke him up the next morning, which was strange because his alarm generally went off before the sun filtered through his windows. He felt a hand run along his chest and looked down, Chloe was lying on top of him. They'd obviously fallen asleep on the couch. He stared for a minute, just watching her as she nuzzled deeper into his chest, fighting the urge to wake up. His hand was on her back as she laid on top of him and he slowly, unconsciously rubbed soothing circles on it. "Five more minutes." She said turning her head and moving her arm up from his chest to rest at the base of his neck, her fingers delving into his hair massaging his scalp gently. The sensations were having the opposite of a soothing effect as her fingers light touch sent chills down his spine.

"Chloe." He said, his voice a little horse. And then she moved, just a little, resituated her hips and he couldn't stop the moan that came out. He saw her eyes open as she realized what she was doing to him, what she had done to him. Instead of stopping her fingers ministrations, she just tilted her head to smirk at him.

Chloe's first thought when she'd slowly woken up and realized where she was and what she was doing was pure panic. The sensation of his fingers on her back and the fact that he was obviously enjoying himself made her decide to throw caution against the wind. He obviously wanted to do this, she wasn't to do this, they were grown consenting adults and the only thing stopping them was her own stupid fear. "We never got to the good stuff did we?" She asked as she slid her body, painfully, slowly, across his.

"What?" Oliver asked, unable to think about what she was saying because he was too busy thinking about what she was doing.

"We never got to the good stuff." She smiled. She'd moved her body further up his and her face was hovering over his now. "We always seem to get interrupted."

"I don't…" Oliver shook his head trying to clear his thoughts and Chloe leaned down to kiss him. Suddenly whatever it was she'd been trying to tell him, didn't matter anymore because she was kissing him. His other arm, the one that had been dangling towards the floor came up and settled on her hip as his right hand moved from her back to her neck and then into her hair, pulling her closer. She ground into him, causing his hand to tighten on her waist and pull her even closer.

"Bed?" She said pulling away.

"Couch." Oliver corrected her and she smiled.

"Fine." She smiled rising up and pulling her shirt over her head and tossing it across the room.

She heard his phone ring from somewhere on the ground. She leaned over stretching across the couch to reach it when she felt a tug at the waistband of her pants and she was suddenly back on top of Oliver. "Don't." He said pulling her head in closer for another kiss. She smiled against his lips. One second after his phone stopped ringing, hers started. Without breaking the kiss she reached down and pulled the phone out of her pants. "No." Oliver groaned as she pulled away. "It's not going to be good."

"Hey Victor." Chloe said without bothering to look at the display to see if she was right. "Yeah he's right here." She dropped the phone down to his chest and Oliver picked it up glaring at her.

"What?" His gruff voice was in direct contrast to the playful one he'd used with her just seconds ago. She smiled and lowered her head down to his chest, placing soft kisses down his body as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt. Unbutton, kiss, unbutton, kiss. "That was today?" He seemed a little more coherent as Chloe reached his waistband and her fingers curled around his belt. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." He said turning off the phone and dropping his head down on the couch in frustration. Chloe lifted her head up and smiled at him.

"Rain check?" She asked, her hands hovering over his belt. Oliver seemed to debate something internally before sighing, then nodding.

She sat up straight as he did the same, searching the immediate area for his shoes. Chloe grabbed his tie off the back of the couch and put it around her neck, tying it efficiently as he got dressed. "I'm really sorry." He said turning to face her. "I've got a meeting with R&D. They're testing out a few projects today and I have to be there." She simply smiled, took the tie off her neck and put it on his, buttoning the last few buttons and straightening the tie.

"No worries." Chloe smiled sweetly at him. "But I'm holding you to the rain check." She reached over and kissed him softly and slowly.

He pushed her back a little forcefully and she looked hurt. He softened. "You keep doing that, I won't get out of here." He smiled at her.

Oliver stood and grabbed his jacket, pulling it on as he walked to the door and Chloe followed. She opened the door for him and watched as he pushed the elevator call button. Something came over her suddenly and she stepped into the hallway. "Oliver." She called out desperately. He looked up at her confused and she ran over to him, pushing him against the elevator doors and kissing him senseless.

When she pulled away he smiled down at her. "What was that for?" He asked softly.

"I don't know." Chloe blushed.

"I'm not complaining." Oliver assured her, kissing her softly as the doors to the elevator opened and they heard a voice.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Oliver's eyes went wide as he wrapped his arms protectively around Chloe. "You didn't put your shirt back on." He said, eyes dancing with laughter.

Chloe turned her head and saw Bart staring at her with a mixture of confusion, anger, and elation. Chloe pulled away from Oliver. She was standing in the hallway with jeans and a bra on, no shirt, no socks, no shoes. "This is like my greatest dream and worst nightmare all rolled into one." Bart breathed out as Chloe crossed her arms over her chest.

Oliver couldn't help the laugh that escaped and Chloe got annoyed. She shoved him in the elevator and pushed the button for the correct floor waving goodbye and then turned to go back into her apartment, leaving Bart standing there still slightly in shock. "What are you doing here Bart?" Chloe asked opening the door and turning around to face him, but he wasn't there. When she turned back around, he was standing in the doorway to her apartment holding out her shirt. She pulled it over her head and walked to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

"Better question." He said with his head inside her fridge. "Is what are you doing in the hallway, kissing Oliver, with no clothes on."

"I had clothes on." Chloe glared at him as he dropped an armload of food on her countertop.

"Barely." Bart scoffed moving onto fixing what looked like a pastrami sandwich.

"What do you care who I'm kissing in the hallway half naked?" Chloe poured a cup of coffee and asked him pointedly.

"Ah ha!" He waved a piece of swiss cheese at her. "So you admit you were half naked."

Chloe tore the cheese from his hands and took a bite. "Seriously, what do you care anymore, I thought you and Megan were like an item or something." She walked over to her desk and turned her computer on to check her e-mails.

Suddenly Bart was standing in front of her with the biggest smirk on his face. "I knew it. I knew you were jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Chloe scoffed.

"You're so jealous." Bart laughed at her. "You're so jealous about Megan, you're kissing random dudes in hallways."

"Oliver's not a random dude." Chloe reminded him. "And I'm not jealous of Megan."

Bart smiled. "Ok, fine, you're not jealous." He conceded and suddenly he was gone from the room. Chloe frowned and looked around confused until he was in front of her again holding a lovely bouquet of tulips. "Just so you know, you'll always be my number one." He kissed her cheek and she actually blushed as she took the flowers from him.

Chloe got up and walked to the kitchen to slip the flowers in a vase. "So did you come here just to raid my fridge?"

"No, actually. Megan sent me up here to get you. She said she let you sleep as long as she could on account of the rough day you had yesterday, but it was getting late." Bart took a bite of the sandwich.

"What time is it?" Chloe finally looked around at the clock and almost spit out her coffee. It was ten to noon, so Bart's sandwich made more sense now. "Shit, I can't believe I slept this late." She ran into her bedroom and pulled on some clothes frantically, not bothering to even check that they were clean or matching. She hopped out into the living room pulling her shoes on. "Put the food away when you're done and lock the doors ok?"

"Sure thing." Bart told her with a mouth full of food. She walked out of the apartment but caught the door before it closed fully. She ran to the kitchen and kissed Bart on the cheek.

"I was a little jealous." She whispered and he smiled at her. "And if you tell anyone I said that I'll deny it until my dying breath."

"My lips are sealed." Bart assured her, the smile not even wavering from his face as she hurried to the elevator.

Chloe walked into her office and Megan jumped up from the chair behind her desk. "Good, you've put a shirt on." Megan smiled and Chloe stopped in her tracks.

"He told you?" Chloe shook her head and Megan turned her phone around.

"He texts as fast as he runs." Megan slipped the phone in her pocket and allowed Chloe to sit down.

"Ask Victor to come see me as soon as he can, and let him know that it's not really a request and that as soon as he cans means now."

"You've got a really busy day." Megan said confused.

"Not anymore, cancel everything. I need to figure out what happened yesterday. I need to figure out why the system shut down and I need to figure out why it turned itself back on." Chloe said in a strange boss like voice that left no room for argument and that Megan hadn't heard before. "And I need Victor for that."

"Right." Megan nodded and walked to her desk. She called Victor into the office and walked back to Chloe. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, call IT and tell them to expect Victor and I down there at some point today. Tell them I'm going to have a lot of questions and they better have some answers."

"Yes ma'am." Megan nodded and walked out of the room.

"Also…" Chloe scratched her head. "I'm going to need a complete diagnostic printout of…" Chloe smiled as a file box was dropped onto her desk. She looked up into the smiling face of Megan who looked awfully smug. "You canceled everything already didn't you?" Megan nodded. "And you ordered these this morning?" She nodded to the diagnostic printouts.

"Last night before I left actually." Megan corrected. "Do you know how long it takes to print out a complete diagnostic?"

"A few hours?" Chloe offered.

"Sixteen." Megan smiled. "This is just the first box. Have fun." She turned around and walked to the door only to stop as Victor walked in.

"Good Afternoon." Victor smiled at her.

"Not for you." Megan nodded for him to go on in.

"What does that mean?" Victor dropped down into the seat opposite Chloe's desk as Megan came in and started piling boxes inside the door. "What is she doing?"

"How much do you love me?" Chloe leaned forward.

"Probably not enough for whatever it is you want me to do." Victor laughed.

"Right." Chloe took a deep breath. "Good thing I'm sort of your boss." She took the lid off the file box and grabbed a large stack of papers.

"Please tell me these aren't what I think they are." Victor flipped through the first few pages.

"It's exactly what you think it is." Megan dropped the last box inside the office and smiled. "I called IT and they seemed pretty nervous, I'm thinking they have a sum total of no answers to your questions but I told them not to worry because you'd probably be going over the diagnostics for two years."

"That's cute, you're funny." Chloe smirked at her.

"She's not lying." Victor sighed. "It's going to take forever to go through all this."

"Then we better get started." Chloe grabbed a stack of papers and Victor grudgingly followed her lead.

For two days Chloe sequestered herself in the office. She let Victor and Megan go home, sleep, shower and eat. She stayed, going over every line of every code of everything that the computers did that day. Bart had come and gone a few times to visit with both Chloe and Megan, AC dared to venture into her office once and never came back after seeing the mountains of paper. Megan had been doing her best to tolerate the strange work schedule but she was the end of her rope.

"You stink." Megan brought her a cup of coffee on the third morning.

"I showered last night." Chloe argued.

"You showered two nights ago." Megan corrected her and Chloe lifted her head up from the papers and frowned.

"Really?" Chloe frowned.

"I could smell you from the elevators." Megan told her. "Mr. Queen's called twice already this morning and he's threatening my job if you don't go home for a few hours today."

"He has no authority to threaten your job." Chloe scoffed.

"Except he signs our paychecks, owns this building, and half of Star City." Megan pointed out.

"Stupid billionaires." Chloe grumbled. "Has Victor called in yet?"

"He said he'd be in later today. He does have other work to do here, like you, work you've been putting off for three days." Megan said.

"Ok but I need to figure this out." Chloe searched through the papers on her desk.

"No not now." Megan grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Now you're going to go up to your apartment, take a shower, eat some food, then sleep for a few hours in a real bed."

"But…"

"No, I'm not taking no for an answer." Megan led her to the door. "Beside I can't stand to look at this mess for another second." She stared at the papers that were strewn over the table tops and most of the floor.

"But I have a system." Chloe tried to protest.

"Sweetie, that's not a system." Megan smiled at her apologetically. "That's just sad."

"One hour." Chloe yawned.

"Five hours." Megan countered.

"An hour and a half." Chloe looked at her.

"Ok, see it's cute that you think this whole thing is up for negotiation." Megan pushed the elevator button and shoved Chloe inside. "I'm locking the elevator on your floor for five hours, and I'm going to trust that the prospect of a severe asthma attack will keep you away from the stairs."

"You get mean when you're annoyed." Chloe said as the elevator doors closed. She tapped her foot impatiently, contemplating getting off on an earlier floor but she had the feeling that Megan probably had people posted on every floor to make sure she didn't do that very thing. When the doors opened on her floor she smiled slightly to see Oliver standing there waiting for her. "What are you doing here?" Chloe asked.

"Making sure that you do what you're told." Oliver took her arm and pulled her into her apartment. "I've already drawn you a bath." He pushed her to the bedroom. "And while you're in there, I'm going to be out here making you breakfast and then your going to sleep."

"You know what?" Chloe smiled up at him. "This isn't so bad. In fact I could get used to this." She turned to go to the bathroom and Oliver reached out, grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"I haven't seen you in three days." He pointed out and leaned down for a kiss. Chloe took a step back and Oliver frowned at her.

"I haven't brushed my teeth in three days." She smiled sheepishly.

"Right, maybe after the bath?" Oliver laughed.

"Count on it." Chloe assured him.

Oliver waited about twenty minutes before knocking on the bedroom door, her food was getting cold. When Chloe didn't answer he walked in to make sure that she hadn't fallen asleep in the tub and smiled. She'd managed to make it out of the tub and even get dressed but as she sat on the bed to put her shoes on, she hit the wall. She was sprawled out, fully dressed, hair wet, sound asleep. Oliver pulled the one shoe she'd managed to get on off, moved her more on the bed and then pulled the covers over her.

'The bunnies have taken over." Chloe mumbled and Oliver turned to her confused. She was completely, deeply asleep and he smiled. "They've turned this into a police state. There's no where to hide." He raised his eyebrows and sat down slowly on the edge of the bed. "The badgers are leading the revolution."

He kissed her forehead and moved to get off the bed. "Stay." She whispered and for a second he thought she was still talking in her sleep but one eye opened groggily. "Stay." She said again and Oliver nodded, climbing in the bed behind her.

Chloe's eyes slowly fluttered open. She yawned and stretched her legs, frowning when her feet hit something solid. She leaned back slightly and felt a hard body curl into her back, an arm sliding over her stomach. Then she remembered asking Oliver to stay and she smiled as she turned to face him. "Morning." She said as his eyes opened slightly.

"After noon." Oliver corrected her then squinted at his watch. "Early evening is more like it." He brushed the bangs from her forehead and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "You talk in your sleep you know?"

"I know." Chloe blushed bright red and Oliver laughed. "What did I say?"

"Nothing much, but what exactly do you have against Bunnies?"

Chloe smiled sheepishly and brought her hands up to his neck and played with his hair. "You need a trim." She said absentmindedly.

"I've been busy lately." Oliver smiled at her. "Speaking of busy…"

"I know, I won't pull a three nighter anymore, I just really wanted to figure out what went wrong with the system." Chloe assured him.

"I wasn't talking about that." Oliver smiled. "But yeah, don't do that again." Chloe nodded. "I just meant that the both of us have been really busy lately and we haven't really had a chance to talk about this…thing that's happening between us."

"Do we have to?" Chloe pouted and put her head on his chest. "I mean if you wanted to, I would have no objection in not having that conversation." She lifted her face up to Oliver. "I mean we could just go on for…ever no having this conversation. We could be eighty and not…" She didn't get to finish because Oliver leaned down and kissed her hard. Her hands tightened on the front of his shirt, pulling him flush up against her. Oliver rolled the both of them over so he was lying on top of her. He pulled away and smiled down at her.

"What do you think now?" He asked pulling away from her completely.

"I think we should probably talk." She agreed and sat up in the bed and tried to figure out what to say when the door to her bedroom was pushed open and Victor walked in.

"Hey, I've been looking for you everywhere." Victor walked to the opposite side of the bed from Oliver and sat down, dropping a stack of papers in her lap.

"Hey Victor, buddy?" Oliver raised his eyebrows at him.

"Hey." Victor said confused and Oliver glared. "What? You're not like naked or anything. So I thought you were crazy but I found something."

"Oh." Chloe grabbed the papers and Victor walked her through the papers.

"It's tiny, I didn't even catch it the first time but the second time I saw it." He pointed at something on the page.

"Oh wow." Chloe looked closer for a second then sighed and turned to Victor. "What am I looking at?"

"It's a blip." Victor said.

"Ok." Chloe nodded. "No that doesn't mean anything to me."

"It's like a spike, an almost miniscule surge in energy at the moment the system started back up." Victor said.

"Oh." Chloe smiled over at him. "I don't know that means either."

"Unfortunately at this moment, neither do I." Victor said. "I think it's time we went down to IT."

"Yeah, ok." Chloe threw back the covers on the bed and grabbed her shoes.

"There you are." Bart walked into the room holding a plate of what looked like the breakfast that Oliver had cooked for Chloe. "This is cold." He said to Oliver accusingly and jumped on the bed. He grabbed the remote and turned the television on. "So why are we hanging out in Chloe's bedroom?"

"We're not hanging out in Chloe's bedroom." Chloe grabbed the plate from him. "And we're not eating in Chloe's bed either." She said pointedly. Bart rolled his eyes and grabbed the plate on the way to the kitchen.

Victor grabbed up the papers and Oliver climbed out of the bed as Chloe followed Victor to the door and walked out without a second glance. He turned around and Bart was rummaging in the fridge. "You think she's gonna miss these?" Bart held up a bag of apples.

"Help yourself." Oliver shrugged and fell down on the couch.

Lex stared at the screen in front of him and smiled as he watched the guy that he'd come to know as Victor Stone walk into the server farm, pull up his sleeve and literally jack himself into the mainframe. He wasn't worried that he would be found out. One of the good things about people with high tech security systems is that they often overlook the low tech things and he was sure that his signal would be brushed off as normal static.

"We've got Cyborg." Lex turned around and Heinrick nodded tacking a picture of Victor to a large board, right next to a security camera shot of Cyborg at one of his 33.1 labs.

Lex surveyed the board with a sort of contended feeling in his stomach. The one they called Impulse was the first one he figured out. The boy, Bart Allen, couldn't cross a room to answer the phone without using his super speed. Aquaman was harder to get until one day Lex saw AC walk into the building soaking, wearing a wet suit and carrying a surf board. Surfing wasn't that unusual in Star City, it was a coastal town but he saw AC mention that his surfing trip had been cut short by Tropical Storm Maria. That confused Lex because the weather was a sunny 89 degrees in Star City. When he turned on the Weather channel and saw that Tropical Storm Maria had just hit the East Coast of Hawaii. Lex then put two and two together and made the connection between AC and Aquaman. He'd just discovered the identity of Cyborg who was the bane to all of his security systems.

The only thing Lex had left to do was discover the identity of the Green Arrow. Lex was sure that it was someone in the building. For one thing, the rest of his team seemed to live and work there, but more than that, it was just a feeling in his gut. "Four down." Lex said.

"One to go." Heinrick nodded.

"I've personally gone over every line of code and I can't find anything." Victor unplugged himself from the system and sighed apologetically at Chloe.

"Thanks for trying." Chloe groaned and headed for the door. The collective group of IT guys all breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed on the other side of her.

"Maybe it was just a fluke." Victor tossed an arm over her shoulder.

"A fluke? Our end of the world lockdown system turning itself on and off all on its own is a fluke?" Chloe asked.

"It was." Victor assured her. "Or it wasn't a fluke, maybe it was a perfect storm of small inconsequential things, power surges and minor glitches and, and, it was a fluke Chloe let it go." Victor shrugged.

"A fluke." Chloe sighed, weighing the way it sounded in her head. "Nope, I can't accept that."

Victor groaned and got in the elevator with her. "Why not?"

"Because my knees are tingling." Chloe looked at him as if that was not the most ridiculous thing to ever come out of her mouth.

"Right, ok. So your knees were tingling, that obviously means…nope I have no idea what to do with that." He shook his head.

"It's something I picked up in my reporter days." Chloe explained. "Every time I was on the verge of a big story, my knees started tingling." She looked over at him. "When I was digging into Lionel, my knees tingled so much I had trouble walking. Mark my words, it wasn't a fluke." The elevator doors opened and Oliver was standing there waiting for her.

"Hey." He smiled. "Heard it was a fluke."

"I swear." Chloe walked out of the elevator. "News travels faster in this building than it did in Smallville." She shook her head. "Do we have some super powered Jewish grandmother in here heading up the gossip train?"

"The guys in IT called Megan and Megan called me." Oliver said.

"Maybe that's Megan's power." Chloe said. "Super gossiper." She took a deep breath. "And it's not a fluke."

"It's not a fluke?" Oliver asked confused.

"Oh, no, apparently her knees are twitching." Victor shook his head.

"Crap." Oliver hung his head. "That's never a good sign."

"You're taking this knee thing seriously?" Victor laughed.

"Well I didn't last time and almost got blown up for my troubles." Oliver put an arm around Chloe's shoulders and Victor threw his hands up and walked away.

Chloe looked around the floor confused, realizing for the first time that they were not on the floor for her office, they weren't on the floor for her apartment either. "Where are we going? Are we going somewhere to talk because Oliver I really can't do that right now."

"We're not going somewhere to talk but when did I become the girl in this relationship?" Oliver asked her and she smiled. "Seriously I want to talk about our feelings and where this is going and every time I bring it up you look ready to bolt."

"So where are we going?" Chloe said effectively changing the subject.

"Well I know you're stressed. I know you've got a lot on your mind and I know you're probably a little annoyed with the IT department and Victor so…" He opened a door and turned on the light and Chloe gasped.

"No." Chloe turned around to jump and clap and hug him. "Are you serious?" She turned back around to look at the room in wonder. He'd brought her to his indoor target range, his inner sanctum. The target range was to Oliver what the fortress was to Clark. It was the only room in the whole of the JL Towers that Oliver obsessed over every little detail, personally conceptualized, designed, and supervised the production of and no one was allowed in it, ever, upon pain of death.

"Do I get to touch them?" Chloe asked slowly approaching the wall of bows and arrows. "Can I shoot one?" She reached out a hand and Oliver grabbed her wrist.

"Let's start off with the something that won't result in a trip to the hospital wing." Oliver offered.

"Oh, sure." Chloe said sheepishly.

Oliver helped her pick out the right bow for her then they started off with the dull tipped arrows just to get her used to the motions. He showed her how to hold the bow, how to properly pull back the string, how to hold the arrow and finally he allowed her to use one of his specialty arrows. After her first shot almost blew a whole in the wall because Oliver told her fourth arrow from the left and she took the fourth arrow from the right, they went back to the dull tipped arrows. Still it did take her mind off the fact that her knees were tingling and no one was taking her seriously and the fact that she couldn't figure out what happened. At least for the short amount of time they had before Oliver's phone ran with an emergency at Queen Industries.

Lex smiled at the board in front of him, it was a bittersweet smile. The hard part was done, everything was in place, but a part of him, some small part of him was a little annoyed that he didn't see it sooner, that he didn't figure it out until know. It had been staring him in the face for the past three years and he'd had to have it spelled out for him. Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow. Oliver Queen, who always wanted to play Robin Hood when they were younger. Oliver Queen whose own family crest contained three arrows. Oliver Queen who showed up in Smallville three days before the Green Arrow. "Sir." Heinrick pulled him out of his head, waiting for instructions.

"Get everything ready for phase three." Lex said going back to stare at the board, at the so called JLA. "Wait for my command though."

"Yes sir." Heinrick nodded.

Lex turned back to the monitor and watched as Chloe kissed Oliver goodbye and he left the building. Lex allowed himself a small smile. He'd been watching their budding romance for the past few days and that really just made what was going to happen that much sweeter as far as he was concerned. He turned off the video feed as Chloe headed back to her office. There was nothing more for him to discover and he had better things to do with his time than to watch Chloe Sullivan toiling away at her desk so he never saw her talking to the janitor.

Chloe walked back to her office knowing that there were stacks and stacks of information waiting for her to sort through on her desk, knowing that Oliver was going to want to have that talk sooner rather than later, and knowing that she had no clue what she was going to tell him. "Miss Sullivan." A voice brought her out of her head and she looked up just in time to stop herself from slamming right into Jacob, one of the maintenance workers.

"Jacob." Chloe smiled at him. "Oh no, don't tell me that there's another leak in my ceiling." She hurriedly opened the door to her office. "I've got papers all over the place."

"No, no leak. Not that I know of." Jacob followed her in the room. "I was hoping that I could have a word with you."

Chloe looked at her watch, it was getting late, and then at Jacobs face and nodded, clearing a pile of paper off one of the chairs for him to sit but he just started pacing. "What's on your mind?" Chloe leaned against her desk confused.

"I just wanted to tell you that I didn't think anything of it at the time, I really didn't or I swear I would have told you days ago. I never thought about the connection until this afternoon and I've been trying to get in touch with you all day. The second I thought that maybe it might have bad something to do with it I came right up here but you weren't in and your assistant said you'd be out all day so I waited."

"Jacob." Chloe smiled sweetly at him. "Deep breath."

He sighed and took a deep breath. "The day the system shut down I wasn't here." Chloe frowned confused. She'd gone over the entry and exit logs for the day to see if anyone unusual had come in or left early and she remembered seeing that Jacob swiped in at 8 and swiped out at 5 like he always did. "I was scheduled to work but a pipe burst in my basement, flooding everything, and I had to stay home to take care of that. I was going to call in sick but my cousin was over and offered to just do my job for the day so that I would still get paid. I was just so grateful I didn't really think much of it. He looks a little like me and most days we don't even interact with that many people so I gave him my key card and he covered my shift for me and that was the day that the system shut down."

"The system didn't shut down because you let you cousin take your shift." Chloe assured him.

"No." He smiled, slightly relieved. "But yesterday my cousin who has been unemployed for the past six months, showed up at my house with a brand new car and all these fancy gadgets that I know he can't afford."

Chloe caught on rather quickly. "You thought he maybe made the money for these things in a not so legal way?" She offered. "Like in a 'infiltrate JL Towers and do something to the system' kind of way?"

"Yes ma'am." Jacob said, the shame and embarrassment evident on his face.

"Did you ask him about it?" Chloe stood up straighter.

"I did. It took a while but he finally said that some man paid him fifty thousand dollars to get my ID card, get into the building and put a disk in one of the computers in the mainframe office. He said he had no idea that it would shut the system down, he figured it was harmless."

"Does he still have the disk?" Chloe asked.

"He was told to destroy it." Jacob shook his head.

"Does he know what it was supposed to do?" Chloe asked hopefully.

"No ma'am and he never met the man who hired him face to face." Jacob said apologetically. Chloe didn't say anything for a while and Jacob walked to the door. "I'll just clean out my locker and turn in my security passes."

"Wait, no, don't do that." Chloe stopped him. "You're not fired Jacob, just call in sick next time ok?"

"Yes ma'am." Jacob deflated in relief.

"How did he get the disk?" Chloe walked him to the door. "If he never met the guy? How'd he get the disk and the money?"

"He was told to go to a warehouse downtown and there was a duffle bag with half the money and the disk and then he was supposed to go back after everything was done and get the second half."

"Which warehouse?" Chloe grabbed a bag.

"I don't know." Jacob said. "But I can find out."

"Please." Chloe nodded. "As soon as you find out call me." She passed him one of her business cards and he nodded, thanked her profusely for not firing him and walked out of the office.

She and her tingly knees were vindicated. She tried to call Oliver but his phone went straight to voicemail. She was tempted to go down to Queen Industries for a face to face "I told you so" but she wasn't allowed out of the building. After sitting in her office for five minutes, unable to contain her excitement, and filled with the urge to do her "I told you so" dance, she decided to risk a walk a few blocks down the street.

She grabbed a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap and went down to the lobby. It was likely that Megan and Oliver had instructed security not to let her out. In any other office building someone in a baseball cap and hooded shirt would raise the alarm, but here with so many Meta's that were unfortunate enough that there powers were coupled with a physical deformity, a hat and hood were common place. She pulled out her phone as she was sneaking across the lobby, trying to look busy, when she stopped in her tracks. Her phone was picking up an unknown signal that was coming from the building. More excitement welled up in her as she tried to access the signal from her phone, but she couldn't.

Ignoring the surprised protests of the lobby Clerk Chloe pushed her away from the computer and sat down. "Excuse me." The girl glared at Chloe with her hands on her hips. "This is a restricted area. I need you to leave now, or I make you leave." Her crisp British accent was steady and unwavering.

Chloe took the hood off her head and dropped the baseball cap on the counter and turned to the girl. Her name was Emily and she was rescued from a 33.1 in Budapest. She was uniquely qualified for the Lobby Clerk job because she had the ability to remember names and faces with jarring accuracy, a genuine sunny disposition, and her meteor power basically made her a human stun gun. She was the most ideal gatekeeper. Chloe raised her eyes from Emily's hands, where lines of blue electricity were jumping from fingertip to fingertip, to her face and the girl immediately apologized. "Miss Sullivan, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was you. What are you doing here?"

"I need to check something on your computer." Chloe said ignoring the confused stares of everyone else in the lobby as she typed away rapidly pulling up screen after screen.

"I didn't know my computer could do that." Emily looked closer as lines of code scrolled rapidly down the screen and Chloe's fingers never stopped typing. Suddenly a picture popped up, a video and then the screen got smaller and split and many video's played simultaneously. "That's security camera footage, I know my computer can't do that." Emily said almost in a way that implied she'd tried to access the security camera footage before.

"It's not your computer." Chloe said slightly horrified putting the pieces together rapidly in her head. She closed the video feeds and pulled up a few more windows then leaned back in the chair. Whoever had done this, was good, really good, frighteningly good. She was willing to bet the disk that Jacob's cousin loaded onto the system started the shut down on purpose. The point was not to shut the system down, but to get the system to do a complete reboot. If they'd just wanted to hijack the security feed, the new signal would have been found by the system immediately, instead they rewrote a small portion of the programming so that when the system rebooted it believed that the signal had always been there. The power surge after the system reset itself wasn't a fluke, it was a diversion, it was there to mask the initial output of the signal.

Chloe pulled out her phone and dialed Oliver again as she tried to trace the signal's final destination. He didn't answer and she hung up to called Victor when her phone rang. It was a number she didn't recognize but answered anyway. "Miss Sullivan?"

"Jacob." Chloe smiled slightly.

"I have the address of the warehouse." Jacob told her. "Dock 42, Slip 19…"

"Warehouse 7b?" Chloe asked and Jacob paused.

"How did you know that?"

She knew because she was staring at the same address on the screen in front of her, the same place where the signal was going. "Thanks Jacob." She hung up the phone and jumped out of her chair, heading for the door.

"Wait a minute." Emily followed her as she dialed Victor and got no answer. "I'm like, not supposed to let you leave."

"So stop me." Chloe offered and Emily hesitated just long enough for Chloe to slip through the doors and out into the night.

She continued to call someone, anyone to back her up but no one was answering and she had the sinking suspicion that they were ignoring her, fearing that she was calling them to sift through piles of paper for hours on end. She hailed a cab and halfway to the docks gave up and slipped her phone in her pocket after texting Bart the address of where she was going, just in case.

The cab driver checked the dashboard clock as he pulled up outside the warehouse district. "You sure you want I should drop you here?" He asked. "It's two in the morning."

"I'm sure." Chloe said paying him the cab fare and tipping him generously. She slid the hood over her head and slipped into the shadows as she crept along slip 19 looking for Warehouse 7b. When she got to it she smiled and thanked Bart for the afternoon of lock picking lessons he'd shared with her, pausing as the lock disengaged only for a second to think that this was a really bad idea.

She wasn't two steps in the door when she heard the sound of many guns cocking at once and froze in her tracks. Lights were switched on and the sound of shoes came clicking toward her. Slowly a familiar outline emerged from the shadows and Chloe almost kicked herself. "I should have known it was you." She shook her head. "Even in Star City. This whole thing reeks of classic villain behavior. The invisible stalker, the system shut down, you even have the quintessential villain hideout full of gun toting goons."

"Well then I guess it only fitting that I say, I've been expecting you Miss Sullivan." Lex smirked at her then nodded his head to one of the many gun toting security guards behind her and she felt a sharp pain in her skull and collapsed to the dirty floor. "Take her to the back." Lex said before walking away.

He hadn't been expecting Chloe actually, the initial plan was for her to be in the Tower with everyone else but he was good at thinking on his feet and the plan could be adapted very easily, he was just going to have to move up the time frame or they'd notice she was gone and come looking for her. He formulated the new plan in his head on the walk to his makeshift office and smiled, this plan would be better because in the end, the JLA would all be dead but Chloe would be alive, and Lex knew from experience that death was short and sweet compared to living the rest of your life with the grief of other's death weighing on you.

The first thing Chloe noticed when she woke up was how incredibly cold she was, which probably had something to do with being dropped, rather haphazardly on the concrete floor and left there. The second thing she noticed was the marching band doing a very enthusiastic rendition of the Met U fight song in her head. The third thing she noticed was that with the level of excruciating pain her head was currently in she was surprised that she managed to notice anything other than that.

"Good, you're awake." Lex said standing over Chloe with that smile on his face that Chloe had come to know was not good for her.

"Did I miss the alarm again?" Chloe sat up slowly, wincing with every movement. "It's that damn snooze button you say you're just going to push it once but you never do."

"You know I've missed this, our back and forth, our witty banter." Lex crouched in front of her.

"How sweet. We should have a slumber party this weekend." Chloe smirked at him. "Just the two of us, we can do manicures and pedicures and braid each other's hair…oh wait."

The smile fell from Lex's face and he stood glaring at her. "I'm constantly underestimating you Miss Sullivan."

"People have a tendency to do that." Chloe pulled herself unsteadily to her feet. She wasn't tied up or chained and she didn't like the image of Lex towering over her. "I think it's because I'm so short. It's an unfair prejudice." She brushed her pants off nonchalantly as if they were just two friends having a relaxed chat.

"Indeed." Lex turned around and pulled something up on the screen. Chloe peered over his shoulder and saw that it was security footage from JL Towers. "Never did I imagine that the spunky young reporter who used to sneak around my facilities looking for a story would turn into one of the masked vigilante freaks that sneaks around my facilities for a darker purpose."

"No darker than the purpose for which those facilities exist." Chloe countered.

"What's so dark about what I'm doing?" Lex asked her, genuinely confused.

"Gee, let me think." Chloe put her hands on her hips. "Ruining people's lives, taking them from their homes, their families. Holding them hostage and experimenting on them within an inch of their lives. Yeah your right, it's not so bad, it's almost like Disney Land."

"I'm protecting the world Chloe." Lex took a step closer to her. "I'm arming myself and this country with the knowledge and the power necessary to fight the inevitable and some would say already existing invasion."

"God Lex, have you spouted that line of crap so often that you actually believe it yourself now?" Chloe shook her head. "You're motives aren't nearly as altruistic as that. They're far more selfish and childish. You're playing God with these people because you can. The sad thing is that I think a part of you is still doing it as some little boys attempt to please Daddy."

Chloe knew she'd pushed it too far when Lex's hand connected with the side of her face. She grabbed her cheek and felt what was likely blood slowly pool up out of a cut in her lip. At least the throbbing in her cheek was outweighing the pounding in her head. Lex turned away from her, giving the both of them time to recompose themselves and scrolled through different areas of JL Tower on the security footage. Chloe caught sight of everyone in the building except for Oliver.

"Everything's almost in place." Lex turned back to Chloe a somewhat maniacal smile on his lips. "We're just waiting for your boyfriend." He said the last word almost tauntingly and Chloe was half expecting him to break out into a version of "Chloe and Oliver sitting in a tree".

"What do you mean everything's in place?" Chloe took a step forward and the guard by the door raised his gun slightly higher. Lex held out a hand and he lowered it as Chloe moved closer to the monitors and turned to Lex. "What did you do?"

"Oh right, I've taken you hostage so this would be the part where I reveal my clever plan to you huh?" Lex smirked at her.

"Generally." Chloe nodded. "So let me guess, it has something to do with saving the world, preparing us for the coming invasion?"

"No." Lex shook his head. "This is about something much simpler." Chloe tilted her head to look at him. "This is about revenge."

"Revenge?" Chloe asked. "God, that's almost even more cliché than believing your working for the greater good."

"Justice is never cliché." Lex argued. "And mine will be poetic."

"Poetic?" Chloe scoffed and then had a horrible thought and a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Poetic justice? You're going to blow it up?"

"You are a clever girl aren't you?" Lex smirked.

"But how?" Chloe shook her head.

"The same way I got access to your security feed. I'll have your own system do it for me." Lex explained to her. "There was a secondary program on the disk that gave us the feed. When activated it will create another power surge which will engage all exterior locks as it slowly shuts down the safety protocols for the gas and power grids which should result in a spectacular explosion.

Chloe calculated in her head to the best of her knowledge a timeline. When the locks engaged they would realize something was wrong. It would take about five minutes to disengage all safety protocols for gas and electric and another two or three minutes before there was enough of a gas buildup to cause the explosion. Her only hope was that given seven or eight minutes Victor could figure out what was going on and be able to stop it.

"Don't think I haven't factored your little friend Cyborg into my equation. The minute the program is instigated control over the system reverts to me and no matter where he jacks himself in he won't be able to do a thing to stop it." Lex told her.

This was madness. Getting someone into the building who was able to access the system, though previously believed highly improbably was obviously doable. It was the fact that Lex had enough intimate knowledge about the inner workings of their system to manipulate it this way. Almost as if reading her mind he shook his head at her. "If you truly want something to stay a secret, never go with outside contractors."

Chloe groaned. She and Victor were both ridiculously computer savvy but the Tower was a huge undertaking. They knew they wanted the whole place to be automated and the knew there was no way they could pull it off on their own so they hired in outside help. "But how are you going to launch the program. You can't do it remotely."

"Oh but I can." Lex pulled something out of his pocket and Chloe groaned. It was her phone. "You're right. Initially the plan had been to have Jacob's cousin get back in and initiate it but when you stumbled upon us last night the time frame had to be stepped up. Lucky for us, your phone is directly wired into the building's mainframe."

"How is that Justice?" Chloe yelled at him in a panic. "There are hundreds of innocent people in that building. You're going to kill them all?"

"They've aligned themselves with you and your team; I wouldn't be so quick to call them innocent." Lex argued.

"You really are sick aren't you?" Chloe asked.

"That's a matter of opinion. I'm not the freak with the unnatural power."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Chloe took a step away from him.

"Now's not the time to play coy with me Miss Sullivan." Lex told her. "You know that I know you have some sort of meteor ability, I just never knew what exactly that ability was. But now I do."

"Yeah?" Chloe scoffed.

"You heal people." Lex told her and the smile was wiped from Chloe's face.

"You are crazy." She tried to cover for herself. "But you were right about one thing." Chloe said and took another step back, tripping over a chair and falling into the security guard at the door who instinctively reached out to catch her. Chloe took that opportunity to elbow him in the stomach, twist his arm around his back and divest him of his weapon before repaying the favor and hitting him in the head with butt of the gun. "People are always underestimating me." Chloe turned to Lex who was aiming his own gun at her.

"Actually I've learned my lesson in that regard." Lex cocked his gun and Chloe did the same.

"Looks like we got a Mexican standoff." She smirked. "Give me the phone."

"This phone?" Lex pulled out her phone and tossed it to her.

She caught it confused and looked down at the screen. A small window was open that said, program initializing. "How do I stop it?" Chloe asked.

"You don't." Lex told her. "It's over."

"No it's not." She tossed the phone back to him and it surprised him enough that he took his attention away from her to catch it. She used that to shove the chair that she'd tripped over before into Lex and threw the door open and ran out.

With Chloe already captured it seemed Lex had gotten cocky and the guard in his "office" was the only one there. She heard his door opened behind her and forced herself to head to the other side of the warehouse and the exit. A bullet whizzed past her head, far too close for comfort but she knew Lex and if he was shooting to kill, she'd be dead. Something on the side wall caught her eye and she veered left, slamming into the wall, grabbing on the handle poking out of the junction box and pulling it down.

She and Lex both looked up at the sound of screeching metal as a dividing gate slowly lowered from the ceiling. Chloe cut her eyes from Lex to the gate and realized that it would never close before Lex got to her and she tried to pry the box open, speed up the process. When the ten years coating of rust prevented her from even opening it slightly she got desperate and emptied the security guards gun into the box. Sparks shot out of it as it imploded in on itself and the gate came crashing to the ground fast enough to crack the concrete.

Lex slid to a halt right at the gate and panted as he glared at Chloe who was doing her own fair share of panting. "Open the gate." He raised his gun, half heartedly at her.

"Can't." She nodded to the smoking rubble that used to be the control box.

"I could shoot you." Lex said to her pointedly.

"You won't." Chloe swallowed trying to catch her breath and failing.

"Why is that?" Lex asked her.

"Because shooting's not your style." She shook her head. "I'm sure it's not beneath you, in fact now I'm positive you're the reason for the body of my invisible attacker with multiple gunshot wounds we found last week. But you won't shoot me. You shoot me and that's it, it's over. Right now off the top of your head I'm sure you can thank of many greater more painful ways to end my life."

"Five since we started this conversation." He admitted. "Six if you know where I can get a good old fashioned guillotine."

"Nice." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Plus, watching me suffer would be far more satisfying to you than a shot to the head."

"You do know me so well." Lex dropped the gun. "Go, try to save them, warn them." Lex smiled at her. "If you run I think you might make it in time." He held up a hand. "Although if I remember correctly you didn't have an inhaler on you when we brought you in." Lex dug in his pocket. "This is Megan's old inhaler." Chloe couldn't' take her eyes off the inhaler. "Now if you'll just admit that your asthma is Megan's asthma I'll give it to you." Chloe glared at him and he slowly pushed on it letting medicine out into the air. "You're mad at me right now." Lex smiled. "You're throat is getting tighter, your breathing shallower." He squeezed again and more precious medicine escaped. "Oh look, your lips are turning blue. Your right, this is much more fun than shooting you."

"Fine." Chloe gasped out.

"Fine what?" Lex shook the inhaler and squeezed it one more time.

"Fine, my asthma is Megan's asthma." Chloe managed to get out.

"How did you get Megan's asthma?" Lex asked.

"Bastard." Chloe had fallen to the ground at this point and was desperately trying to pull air into her lungs. He squeezed it again. "I healed her." Chloe cried out. "I have a meteor power, I heal people."

Lex tossed her the inhaler through the bars of the gate. Chloe caught it with the tips of her fingers and shakily brought it to her lips, she squeezed the inhaler and took a deep breath, feeling the relief immediately. She paused for a bit then took another dose. Her breathing evened out and she glared at Lex. "There's no time for whatever it is you want to do to me, not if you want to save Oliver and your friends."

"I'll be back." Chloe warned him as she ran to the door, slipping the inhaler in her pocket.

"You'd better run Chloe." Lex called out after her. "Twenty blocks in five minutes isn't easy with a healthy set of lungs."

Chloe ran for it right out of the doors. She couldn't call anyone because Lex still had her phone so she kept her breathing even, concentrated as hard as she could on taking slow and deep breaths, but asthma is medical, not mental and around block 13 her lungs gave out on her. The wheezing came first and it tripped her up a bit as she rounded the corner onto Fourth.

She pulled the inhaler out and shook it, it sounded empty and she cursed as she tried to take another dose. It was empty. She tossed that on the ground and kept running. The wheezing turned into coughing and her chest tightened like someone had it in a vice. She had four more blocks to go and she wasn't going to stop, couldn't stop. The doors would have locked by now and if she was lucky, Victor caught the whole thing in time to stop it, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd been that lucky.

Her hands started shaking and her legs were turning into jelly. She could see JL Tower now, she was almost there. Her vision blurred in front of her and she crashed sideways into a parked car and grasped for something to hold onto to keep her up right. She missed, catching the antenna and breaking it off in her hand as she met the ground face first. There was very little air getting into her lungs now and she used the last of her strength to look up at the building and pray.

"Ma'am?" A panicked voiced sounded muffled and far away but Chloe knew they were talking to her. "Ma'am are you ok?"

"Get back." Chloe tried to squeak out but there was no air to form the noises necessary. She wanted to tell the crowd gathered around her to clear the building, to clear the street but she could only wheeze.

"She can't breathe." Someone else said. "Call an ambulance."

Chloe's eyes were blurring now but she managed to hang on just long enough to see the glass of the Tower splinter outward and rain on the people in the street below. The sound of the blast came next and then a huge fireball. She could hear people screaming and car alarms going off and tears fell from eyes as she blacked out from lack of oxygen.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: I don't want you to get so used to such quick updates but I did leave you with one hell of a cliff hanger so enjoy.

Air passed into Chloe's lungs, not much got through her still swollen throat but it was enough to bring her back to the present. "You're gonna be fine you hear me." Bart cradled Chloe's head in his lap as the ambulance sounded behind him. If it weren't for all the stupid people hanging around he'd have picked her up and sped off with her five minutes ago. He'd been searching for her since the building exploded and the whole time she'd been two blocks down the street.

Chloe's eyes fluttered open and she frowned when she saw him looking down at her. His face was covered in either dirt or soot and there were red spots on his skin that looked like burns which were covered with open, bleeding scrapes and scratches. "Hey." He smiled at her. "Just stay with me ok. You gotta promise me you'll stay with me. I mean now that you've finally admitted that you're in love with me you don't get to die on me."

Chloe opened her mouth to protest that she was not in love with him, she was just slightly jealous that he wasn't giving her his full and undivided attention anymore, and to ask if she'd imagined it or had he just been giving her mouth to mouth. She never got the chance as she slipped back into uncounsousness.

Chloe opened her eyes the second time and looked around. She was in a hospital bed, that much she could tell, but she didn't know how she get there. "There's a tube in your throat." A very horse voice, heavy with emotion said beside her. Because of the tube she couldn't really move but whoever it was moved closer and she saw Clark, standing above her with the most heartbreaking expression on his face. "I'll go get the doctor."

Chloe nodded as best as she could and waited for the doctor to come in. That's when she remembered; Lex, the explosion, Oliver. She had no idea if Oliver had been in the building when it exploded. She knew however, that Victor, AC, Bart, Megan and all the others had been in there and tears started to fall yet again.

She felt hands pull the tape off of her mouth and then in one fell swoop the tube was pulled out and she was rolled over on her side as a coughing fit over took her. "Water." Doctor Emil said quietly and Clark nodded, leaving the room and returning with a glass of water. She was able to take a few sips and it helped. Before anyone could say anything to her she looked at Clark.

"Victor and AC, Bart and…"

"They're fine, a little bruised, shaken up, worried about you, but otherwise they're fine." Clark laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Oliver?" She whispered in a harsh, cracked voice and Clark bowed his head. "Was he in the building?" Tears sprung to her eyes and she felt her breathing come quick. The beeping on the monitor tipped Clark and the Doctor off and an oxygen mask was put over her face as she was pushed gently to the bed. She reached up to take the mask off and Clark's hand covered hers, halting her movements.

"He's…alive." More relief than she ever thought possible washed over her in that moment and she closed her eyes and leaned against the pillows. When she looked back up at Clark, she could tell that the story wasn't over though. "He's in really bad shape." Clark told her. "The explosion was…it was bad, and Oliver's got pretty bad burns." Clark looked up at the doctor next to him and Chloe shifted her gaze.

"He was thrown at least twenty feet by the blast, clear out of the building, through the front windows and into the street." The Doctor said. "So on top of the burns there are broken ribs and a fractured hip, a lot of minor injuries but he hit his head rather hard, there was some swelling around the brain and we had to operate. We stopped the bleeding but … he's not awake yet." Chloe closed her eyes and despite Clark's hand on hers, she managed to lower the mask.

"Can I see him?"

The Doctor thought for a minute. "Not yet." He said. "I want to run some tests on you, keep you on the oxygen for a little while longer before you go roaming the halls ok?" He said it cheerily but he didn't smile. Chloe just nodded. "Don't take the mask off."

"I got it." Clark assured the Doctor. He helped Chloe sit up straight in the bed and then collapsed in the chair next to her. "You scared ten years off my life you know that." Clark said pointedly to her. Chloe shrugged her shoulders as if to say she was sorry. "When we saw the news about the explosion, I think my heart stopped for a second. Then they said you weren't in the building, you were completely unaccounted for. If it wasn't for Bart, we never even would have known you were here. What happened? The fire department is saying faulty gas lines…"

"Lex." Chloe croaked out and that one word said everything that Clark needed to hear. He stared at her, his expression unreadable, and nodded once. "How?" Chloe whispered.

"How?" Clark shook his head. "I don't understand…how what?"

"How did they survive?" Chloe asked.

"You and your tingly knees that's how." Victor said from the doorway and Chloe smiled over at him. He limped into the room, his arms and neck and face covered in scratches and bandages and he sat down, grabbing her hand. "I know I made fun of you for it but you seemed so sure so I kept looking."

_Victor walked into Chloe's office flipping through a stack of papers. "Chloe, you're never going to believe this but I think I actually found something." He looked up and frowned. She wasn't there. _

"_She's not in yet." Megan said dropping some mail off on Chloe's desk. "I was about to call up to the apartment." _

"_Don't worry, I'll just go up there." Victor smiled and headed for the elevator. He went over the information one more time because the last thing he wanted to do was get her hopes up only for it to be another fluke but he was positive this time, he'd actually found something. He let himself into her apartment but she wasn't there. He called Megan, hoping they just missed each other in separate elevators but no dice. He had a sudden brainstorm and called Oliver, thinking Chloe might have spent the night with him but Oliver said that he was on his way to the Tower to see her. Victor got a bad feeling in his stomach and if he'd been Chloe, his knees probably would have been tingling like crazy. _

_Slightly worried that he was being paranoid and overprotective, and knowing Chloe would kick his ass if she ever found out, Victor went down to security and tried to find her on the monitors. After searching the whole building twice, the bad feeling started to grow. "Last night at around nine I dropped her off on the twenty fifth floor with Oliver." Victor sat down and took over one of the stations. They searched through the footage. "We'll just follow her from there." And they did. They watched her shooting arrows with Oliver. They watched him leave and her head back to her office and talk with Jacob. Then they watched her pace before finally heading down to the lobby._

_Victor recognized the moment she found the signal, the same one he found earlier that day. He watched as she traced it on Emily's computer, as she talked to someone on the phone, then as she left the building. "She hasn't come back in yet." The guard told Victor apologetically but he was already out of his chair and heading for the door. _

"_Megan, I need you to pull Chloe's phone records for the past 48 hours and meet me in the lobby." He hung up without waiting for a reply the bad feeling even worse. _

_He was already digging through Emily's computer, figuring out what Chloe already knew, when Megan showed up. The signal was a hijack of their security footage. "What's going on?" Megan asked from behind him, AC in tow. "Chloe's not answering her phone." _

_  
"I need to know who she talked to a little after 1 am last night." Victor said as he re-ran Chloe's tracing program. _

"_She tried to call Oliver but it never connected. She had a thirty second call from Jacob, the maintenance guy." Megan said surprised going through the phone records. "Why would she be talking to Jacob at 1 in the morning?" _

"_I don't know." Victor said. "But I'm going to find out." _

"_She called all you guys a few times but none of you answered…oh she sent a text to Bart at about 1:30." Megan frowned. _

"_Get Bart and Jacob down here as fast as you can." Victor told her and Megan nodded. Bart was there in two seconds. "Give me your phone." Victor said without preamble and Bart handed over his phone. _

"_What's going on?" Bart watched as Victor scrolled through his text messages. "Hey, those are private." _

"_Yeah, everyone knows you and Megan are dating, it's not a big secret." AC scoffed. _

"_Chloe sent you a text at 1:30 last night." Victor told him._

"_Which is probably also private." Bart shook his head. _

"_Chloe is missing." Victor told him seriously. "And I doubt she decided to profess her undying love for you via text message at 1:30 in the morning before running off to do God knows what on her own." Victor snapped, angrier at himself than Bart. If he was honest he'd ignored Chloe's calls last night thinking that she was going to drag him into her office to work all night. _

"_Chloe's missing?" AC looked over at Victor confused. _

_Bart's face fell. "Why didn't you say so? What can I do?" _

_Victor looked at the text message that she sent Bart confused. "Does this mean anything to you?" _

_Bart looked at the screen. "DK 42, SP 19, WH7b?" Bart shook his head. "Nothing, I have no idea what that means." _

"_Damn it." Victor groaned. _

"_Jacob's getting off the elevator." Megan told Victor. _

"_Stay here." Victor said before going over to talk to him. _

"_Why are we congregated in the lobby?" Oliver asked over Megan and Bart's shoulders and they both jumped a few feet in the air. Neither one of them said anything, both knowing that when it came to telling Oliver that Chloe was missing and probably in danger he was likely to kill the messenger._

"_This mean anything to you?" Bart said instead and shoved his phone in Oliver's face. _

"_It's an address." Oliver frowned. "Dock 42, Slip 19, Warehouse 7b." _

"_Seriously?" Bart took the phone back astonished. _

"_Why? What's in Warehouse 7b?" Oliver asked them. _

"_Chloe." Victor said, his expression hard as he looked at the computer. The tracker had finished and the same address was now on the screen. The signal, the text message, unfortunately they all led to the same conclusion, Chloe had gone off on her own after this signal and gotten herself into trouble. "My knees are tingling." Victor mumbled to himself. _

"_Someone needs to explain what's going on and they need to do it now." Oliver said in his most menacing Green Arrow voice. Bart and Megan and AC simultaneously turned to Victor who sighed and explained everything that he'd learned so far. _

"_Ok, let me get this straight." Oliver was pacing the lobby now. "Last night Jacob came to Chloe and told her that his cousin had been paid by someone, whose identity we don't know right now, to sabotage our systems. Chloe then figures out that the purpose for that sabotage was to gain access to our security camera feed. Then Chloe figured out where the feed was being sent and decided to go check it out all on her own, at 2 in the morning and no one has heard from her sense?" _

"_That sums it up pretty good." Victor nodded. _

"_So very many people are getting fired when this is over." Oliver mumbled under his breath. "Bart, Warehouse." _

"_Got it." Bart sped out of the building._

"_Victor, find me something, anything on the program that…." Oliver was interrupted by flashing lights and a loud alarm over the intercom system. _

"_Instigating Security Lockdown Protocol 1. All entrances and exits will be closed until further notice for your safety." A soothing female voice announced to the building. _

"_This is not good." Victor started typing rapidly. _

"_What's going on?" AC looked around the lobby in confusion. _

_"They've locked us in the building." Victor said. "And…shit." He leaned back in his chair._

"_What?" Oliver asked._

"_They're shutting down the safety protocols for the gas and electrical." Victor explained. _

"_Stop them." _

"_I can't." Victor slammed his hands into the keyboard. "They locked me out." _

"_Ok." Oliver started pacing again. "What does that mean?" _

"_The safety protocols are what regulate the flow of gas and electricity into the building. If you shut them down, there's no way to regulate the levels, theoretically we could get flooded." _

_"What would that do?" Megan asked afraid to know the answer. _

"_When you have massive amounts of electricity flooding a breaker, it's probably going to blow." Victor took a deep breath . "And if it happens to blow around an area filled with Gas." _

"_Shit." Oliver said understanding the full extent of the problem. _

"_We can't block the gas, or…or…stop the gas?" Megan asked scared. _

"_There's not much I can do in here." Victor said. _

"_Bart's not in here." AC pointed out. _

_Victor smiled. "Megan give Victor your phone." She handed her phone over. "Text Bart tell him what's going on." Victor nodded as Oliver turned to AC. "I need you to take Megan and security and go floor by floor gathering people up. I want everyone together." Oliver turned to Victor. "Where's the safest place to go?" _

"_No where." Victor shook his head. "It will take a while for the gas to reach the upper floors but if it blows anywhere on the bottom, that will take the structural stability out of the building and it'll collapse in on itself." Oliver raised an eyebrow at him then looked back over at Megan who looked even more terrified. "Yeah ok, not helpful…just get as high as you can get ok?" _

"_How much time do we have?" AC asked. _

"_Five, six minutes tops." Victor said and AC nodded. _

_Megan grabbed the security guard. "I need you guys to make an announcement, get everyone up on the top floor, everyone, this is not a drill. Then I need bodies in the hospital wing, there are a few people there who aren't going to be able to move on their own." Megan took charge, completely forgetting her own fear and AC followed her every command. _

"_Wait." Victor ran over and grabbed the walkie talkies off of the security guards. He ran back to Oliver and sighed. "I can get Bart to do a manual shut off of the electricity from outside, we've still got to close the main gas lines in here." He handed Oliver a walkie talkie as he pulled up something on the computer. "These are plans for the basement." Victor said. "We're here and I need to be here." He pointed to a spot on the map. "I need you to tell me where to go when I get down there and I'm going to tell you what to text Bart ok?"_

"_I'll go." Oliver stopped him. "You tell me where to go and what to do and you text Bart." _

_Victor sighed. "We could rock paper scissor this out but the fact of the matter is that the pipe I have to close is three inches of reinforced steel and it has to be done quick and most likely barehanded. Can you do that?" _

"_I'll stay here and tell you where to go." Oliver sat down in front of the computer. _

"_Plus, if the building collapses into the basement, I'm the only one who could dig my own way out." Victor said before taking off and Oliver looked around the lobby. He was only one floor up from the basement, so if the building collapsed, it was going to fall on him first. _

"_Great." He said looked at the map and texting Bart about the situation. _

"_That's everyone from the hospital wing." AC came over to Megan as she explained the situation to Jordan and Holly. "Have all the floors been checked?" They were gathered in the library on the top floor. The top floor also housed the gym but AC and Megan decided that if something did happen they'd much rather be buried by books than by free weights._

"_Not manually." Megan said. "But they did a camera sweep, it's all clear." _

"_I'm sorry." A girl who Megan recognized from one of the research labs, still in her pajamas interrupted them. "Did you say the building was going to explode?" The whole room erupted into a sort of low panicky murmur. _

"_No this is just a precaution, everything's ok." Megan tried to reassure them. _

"_You're lying to them?" Jordan asked her astonished. _

"_You want to tell them the truth and have them panic and likely take out their anger and fear on you?" Megan whispered and Jordan shut up. _

"_No, it's not a precaution." The girl countered. "I heard you. You said to him that there was a gas leak and that the electrical system was being over loaded. You said one spark and the whole place would blow like Chernobyl." Everyone was completely silent for a minute then they all turned to look at Emily, then down at her fingers and collectively as a group took three large steps back from her. _

"_Now that's rude." Emily glared at them. _

"_Emily's not going to blow us up." Megan said trying to regain control. "We aren't going to blow up." _

"_You can't promise that." A man yelled and suddenly everyone was yelling. _

_Megan turned to AC who shrugged and she turned back to the crowd trying whatever she could to calm them down but nothing was working. "Eavesdropping is rude you know." Megan said to the girl._

"_Arrow." Victor's voice squawked over the walkie talkie. _

"_I'm here." Oliver said. _

"_It's really bad down here." Victor told him, covering a cough. "I know we don't have control over the system but we still have access to it. I need you to pull up the ventilation programming." He coughed again and told Oliver how to get to the screen. "It measures impurities in the air, read me the concentration of gas." _

"_Twelve percent." Oliver said. "Is that bad?" _

"_It's bad and good." Victor coughed again. "If the concentration goes over fifteen percent the gas will be too dense to burn." _

"_That's good." Oliver said. _

"_But it'll start to replace the oxygen and suffocate us." Victor added. _

"_That's bad." Oliver frowned. _

_"And as it rises it's going to get thinner and then it'll be flammable again." _

"_That's really bad." Oliver rubbed his head and they were quiet for a minute. _

"_Did uh…did Bart find Chloe?" _

_Oliver stared down at the walkie talkie then looked over at the phone which had been silent for the past minute. "No." Oliver cleared his throat. "He found a guy unconscious and a board with our names and pictures and other identities on it, but no sign of Chloe." _

"_Right." Victor said. "We'll find her, she's fine." _

"_He's trying to shut off the main grid now but it may take a while." Oliver changed the subject. He didn't have the energy right now to worry about Chloe because if he worried about Chloe then he was going to lose it and right now Victor and the hundreds of others huddled together upstairs needed him. _

"_I found the pipe." Victor said. "But there's something I didn't tell you." _

_"Of course there is." Oliver mumbled to himself. "What's wrong?"_

"_When I close the pipe, it's going to create a spark." Victor said. _

"_But won't that just blow us up?" Oliver asked astonished. _

"_Yes." Victor said. _

"_Then don't close the pipe." Oliver pointed out the easy solution to him._

"_I have to." Victor explained. "The longer the gas is allowed into the building the more it's going to spread through the building and pretty soon with the amount of electricity in this place whether Bart shuts off the grid or not, there will be an explosion. Our only option is to control the explosion." _

"_That doesn't sound like a good option." Oliver argued. _

"_If I cause the spark now while the gas is concentrated on the lower floors, theoretically the explosion will just affect us." _

"_But you said if it exploded on the ground floors the building would collapse." Oliver reminded him._

" _If I do it now before the gas gets higher, the structural damage should be minimal enough that the others will be safe and still able to get out. I think." _

"_You think?" Oliver gasped at him. "If I'm going to let you blow me up I'm going to need something better than that." _

"_Either way, the top floor should give them enough of a cushion that the injuries will be minimal." Victor said. _

_"And us?" Oliver asked. Victor didn't say anything else and that was answer enough. Victor might be able to survive under the rubble, even being so close to the ignition point, but Oliver was going to get blown up then buried. He picked up Megan's phone and typed a message to Bart before he lost his nerve then picked up the walkie talkie. "Ok." He looked around the room then lowered himself to the ground and crouched under the desk, the only thing he could think for some reason was "duck and cover". "Whenever you're ready." _

"_Right." Victor said. "Been nice working with you." _

"_Back at you." Oliver laughed and waited, and waited, and waited. "Victor, if we wait much longer…"_

"_I know." Victor said his voice shaky. "I was being all noble and self sacrificing before but I've never had my hand on a dead man's switch. It's not so easy to blow yourself up you know." _

"_Take your time." Oliver told him. "Just not too much time." _

"_Right." Victor dropped the walkie talkie to the ground and took a deep breath. _

_Megan finally understood the meaning of mob mentality. All it took was that one girl to say one sentence and everyone went out of their minds. She felt a tap on her shoulders and turned to face the smiling faces of a team from Research and Development. "We found a solution." The guy she thought was named Peter said and suddenly the room was quiet. _

_He wasn't ready for that but pressed on anyway. "The gas leak can't be stopped, the bottom few floors are already flooded and the electricity is only seconds away from igniting a stray molecule and blowing us all to kingdom come." Peter coughed. "There's another option." _

"_Ok." Megan smiled hopefully. _

"_If we explode the gas before it reaches the upper floors, while it's still fairly concentrated, it could block the gas leak, burn up the gas already in the air and we'd be safe." _

"_No." Megan shook her head. "Victor told me if the bottom floors blew the building would collapse." _

"_Not necessarily." Peter held up a hand before everyone started up again. "By our calculations we have around a minute and a half to explode the already released gas without causing major structural damage to the building thus resulting in us staying relatively unharmed." _

"_You're saying we explode the building on purpose?" AC asked incredulously. _

"_A controlled explosion." He protested. _

"_And how do you propose we control this explosion?" Jordan asked him. _

_The R&D team all turned at once to face Emily. The whole crowd followed their lead and she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Oh so first I'm a leper and suddenly I'm the savior." She glared at everyone. _

"_We're not sending Emily downstairs to blow up the building, and herself by the way." Megan pointed out._

"_Fine, but if the gas doesn't explode in the next forty five seconds, then our survival rate get's cut down from 80% to 20%." Peter said. _

"_I think Emily should sacrifice herself for the greater good." Someone screamed from the middle of the crowd._

"_I'll sacrifice you." Emily said annoyed and made a move to raise her hands. _

_"Hey now, calm down." Jordan grabbed her hands and covered them with his own. "First of all we don't want you to accidently blow us all up and second that was a really lame come-back." Emily allowed him a small smile and the R&D guys groaned annoyed. _

"_Too late." They said. "We're all doomed." _

_The crowd roared into another panicked frenzy screaming and crying and Megan started to feel a little worried herself. She felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to find Holly standing there. "That's not entirely true." She said. Jordan and Megan looked at her astonished. Holly really only talked to Jordan and Chloe, she usually just mimed whatever she wanted to say to Megan but obviously this was important. "I think…I think I can save us." _

_Megan tilted her head at the girl. "How?" _

"_My power." Holly told her. "I can generate a, well it's sort of like, I think Dr. Emil called it a personal force field." She rolled up her sleeve and Holly stared astonished at the criss cross pattern of random scaring that covered her skin. "I had trouble controlling it at first. I mean it generally just happened when I was scared. The first time I ever did it was the accident my parents died in. I didn't mean to do it, I just…the car completely crushed my mom and dad but I didn't have a scratch on me. When I was in the lab they would…they would attack me, trying to force it so they could study it, but it didn't always work." _

"_Oh sweetie." Megan pulled the girl into a hug and she felt sorry for her, she really did, but she wasn't sure what good a personal force field would do for the four hundred other people in the library. _

"_The thing is." Holly continued as if she could read Megan's mind. "I can make it bigger. I can put other people in it." She looked over at Jordan who nodded. _

"_I took her to the park one day to see the butterfly gardens and on our way back this guy tried to mug us. We did everything he asked but for some reason he shot us anyway. Or tried to shoot us at least." _

"_When I saw him fire the gun, I grabbed Jordan and concentrated as hard as I could and I got it to cover both of us." Holly explained. _

"_Sweetie, there's a difference between two people and a couple hundred." Megan pointed out. _

"_I have to try." Holly told her. _

"_Maybe not, Victor and Mr. Queen and Bart are down there working on the problem as we speak. Maybe they'll fix everything and there won't be an explosion." Megan smiled and then they all heard the blast and the screaming started. "Or maybe not." She turned around to the R&D guys. "How long until the building collapses?" _

_They huddled together and whispered for a few seconds and then turned to Megan. "A minute, two at the most." _

"_Get them all together." Holly said. "I just need everyone to be touching, everyone to be connected by someone else." _

"_Ok." Megan nodded as they heard the building creek and groan. "Ok people, I need you to get as compact as you possibly can and I need you to make sure that both of your hands are holding someone else's." No one really knew why or what good it would do but they listened anyway. If there was a chance that huddling together and holding hands could save them they would take it. Holly reached out and grabbed Jordan's hand and then slowly and hesitantly reached out for Megan and they all moved in closer to the crowd. _

_Holly closed her eyes as the structure started to collapse. The floor suddenly felt like it was leaning forward and for a second Megan thought that was ridiculous but then she heard the sounds of books falling off of their shelves. She opened her eyes and nothing looked different. "Holly can you see this force field?"_

"_Yeah it's kind of blue and shimmery." Holly said. _

"_Crap." Megan whispered then shrieked with everyone else as the floor under their feet shifted. _

"_Don't let go." Holly yelled. "Don't let go." She grunted, the strain obvious on her face. "Nothing's happening." _

_"It's ok." Megan told her. "It's fine, it's ok. You can do this Holly I know you can." Megan squeezed her hand reassuringly and almost at the same time she got an overwhelming felling of weightlessness as the floor disappeared under her feet and as she started to fall, dragging AC and Holly and four hundred other people with her. Holly screamed and Megan was still falling but now she was inside a blue, slightly shimmery bubble._

Chloe stared at Victor in disbelief and he chuckled. "The newspapers are calling it a miracle. A freak engineering anomaly that created a sort of structurally impenetrable bubble. When the dust cleared they were all just standing there on top of the pile of rubble, four hundred people fell over fifty storied and there was not a scratch on them."

"What about you?" Chloe reached up to touch the bandage on his cheek.

"I shielded myself from the explosion but then had to dig my way out of about four thousand pounds of rubble but no big deal right?" He assured her. "If I'd just blown it earlier, if I hadn't hesitated…"

"Stop." Chloe shook her head. "None of this is your fault." Victor smiled at her but didn't believe it for a second. "I guess we know what Holly's power is now." Chloe smiled slightly.

"And Megan's." Victor told her. "Everyone was calling Holly a hero, thanking her but she swears that she didn't do it. She said she was trying and trying but she couldn't even get a field big enough to surround herself and then suddenly it was like something was forcing her to do it, something was pulling it out of her. Dr. Emil remembered that's how you described your power when you were healing Megan and he ran some tests. Turns out Megan's power is like a sort of supercharged battery, or a catalyst. She can boost someone else's power or even in extreme situations force the power to manifest."

"Seriously?" Chloe asked.

"Dr. Emil said he thinks thats why your asthma started getting better when Megan came to work for you." Victor told her. "Being around her all day everyday was boosting your body's own healing power and Bart swears that he runs faster when she's around."

Chloe laughed and then coughed and then started wheezing and Victor reached over to put the mask back on her face. "Everyone's ok, alright? You need your rest. You need to keep up your strength." Chloe nodded and took deep breaths from the oxygen and allowed herself to relax. Oliver wasn't fine but the doctor's had hope. Victor, AC, Bart, and all the others were perfectly ok, great even.

Chloe knew that they were stalling her. There was no way they'd normally let this many people in her room at one time, they were trying to distract her, distract her from the fact that she'd been awake for over twenty four hours and they'd yet to let her go see Oliver. "Go fish." AC said to Victor who groaned and grabbed a card from the pile in front of him.

"Strawberry Raspberry Surprise." Bart said pushing past AC and Victor to hand Chloe a large glass of black liquid.

"Neither strawberries nor raspberries are black." Victor said looking disgusted. "What's the surprise?"

"Black Sapote." Bart smiled. "You can only find them in a remote region of South America." Chloe looked at the cup a little hesitantly and Bart sighed. "It tastes like chocolate."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Chloe whispered, her voice nowhere near coming back yet. She took a big sip and to her surprise it did taste like chocolate. "Wow."

"I know." Bart smiled. "I've been scouring the globe for exotic fruit for you since smoothies are basically all you can have for a while. I didn't want them to get boring. Tomorrow we're going for coconut and sugar apple, or banana and soursop. How do you feel about Dragon fruit? Love it? Hate it?"

"I don't think I have an opinion either way." Chloe assured him

Slowly as the day progressed people came and went. Victor, AC, Clark, Holly, Jordan, and Megan, a lot of others from JL Towers but Bart stayed. The only time he even got out of the chair beside her bed was to get her another smoothie. Later that night as he sat in the bed next to her and watched a movie Chloe turned to him. "Are you babysitting me?" Chloe asked.

"What?" Bart scoffed and Chloe glared at him. "Victor told me to keep you busy." He finally admitted.

"They don't want me to see Oliver." Chloe sighed and then saw the look on Bart's face. "Is it that bad?"

"They just want to get more of the skin grafts done before…burns are a big infection risk." Bart pointed out.

"It's that bad." She whispered.

"Yeah." Bart sighed. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he rubbed her back.

"I'm fine." Chloe assured after a second. "You don't need to stay here with me."

"I'm good." Bart assured her.

"Yeah but I'm sure you and Megan have tons of other things you'd rather be doing, you know together." Chloe asked.

"She's cool, she knows you come first. And since you're apparently in love with the boss, she's not really that worried about you stealing me away. Besides, she's sort of enjoying her new found celebrity at the moment." Bart smiled. "You know she was the girl who saved everyone's life after all."

"So I should probably give her a raise huh?" Chloe said and Bart laughed. "Have you seen Lois?"

Bart coughed uncomfortably. "Not today. Sorry." For all of Clark's talk about how scared she was when she heard about the explosion Lois had yet to show up and visit Chloe in the hospital.

Because she couldn't seem to relax so she was still using her inhaler at least twice a day, the doctors wouldn't clear her to go home, not that it mattered, she didn't have a home to go home to anymore. It was obvious that people were still trying to keep her occupied, the general consensus being that the more she kept her mind off of things, the faster she would get better, calm down. After a week, the frequent visitors had dwindled down to basically Clark, AC, Victor, and of course Bart, though no one could believe that he actually knew how to sit still for more than ten minutes.

Chloe tried to convince him to go home, change, and spend a few hours with his girlfriend, he refused to step one foot out of the hospital room until Clark swore, in writing, with no less than two witness signatures, that he wouldn't leave Chloe alone for any amount of time, for any reason, not even to go to the bathroom. "He's a little over protective." Clark laughed and sat down in front of the television.

"He's feels responsible." Chloe explained. "He didn't answer my call, he ignored my text and he feels like he should have gotten to me sooner, before I passed out, hell before I got caught by Lex."

"So his plan is to make sure that you're never alone, ever again?" Clark laughed and suddenly Bart was back in the room holding out a pizza for Clark, so he didn't leave for food and a smoothie for Chloe, African Cucumber, Lemon, Lime.

"He means well." Chloe laughed and looked down at her smoothie. "Though I wouldn't say no to a normal strawberry banana." Chloe looked longingly at the pizza Clark had balanced on the edge of her tray and then back at her smoothie. "You think Bart could make a pizza smoothie?" She asked and Clark froze with the slice halfway to his mouth turned to her in disgust and dropped it in the box.

"Thank you for that." He said wiping his mouth in annoyance and Chloe just smiled.

"Chloe?" Doctor Emil walked in the room. "Your lung function's been doing much better today and I was thinking, if you're ready, you can go see Oliver."

Chloe took a deep breath and turned to Clark. "Really?" She asked.

"Actually you could have gone to see him a few days ago but we've been waiting for Bart to leave." Dr. Emil smiled as she got out of the bed, slightly unsteady on her feet. "He was afraid it would be too much for you. Actually he made me sign a contract stating I wouldn't do anything to endanger your recovery so we're only going to do this if you're sure you can handle it."

"I can handle it." Chloe said and Clark jumped up to help her walk.

The bandages she was ready for, the burns she was ready for, she'd made Dr. Emil warn her as to what she could expect to see and she was fine with all of that. What she wasn't fine with was the way he looked so helpless, the way he was just laying there, taking up space. Even when he slept he had a determination about him, a way that made Chloe wonder if his mind was ever truly at rest. But now, he was empty, just a vessel of muscle and sinew lying limp on the stark white sheets. "We can go back…" Clark offered her as he saw her knees buckle a little. She pulled her inhaler out of her robe pocket and took a deep breath.

"No." Chloe whispered. "I'm fine."

Clark helped her to a chair and sat her down. He watched as she reached out tentatively once, twice, and then a third time, before her hand finally settled on Oliver's, lightly, worried that even though there was no burn there, no bandage, she would hurt him. "I'll leave you alone." Clark whispered before backing out of the room.

The tears that Chloe had been holding in while Clark was in the room came pouring out of her, she couldn't hold it any longer, and she didn't want to. Before she could even stop to think about what was happening, they were no longer gentle tears, they were sobs, heart wrenching, breathtaking sobs that shook her and constricted her chest. "Easy." A voice said as arms wrapped around her shoulders, soothing her even as she reached for her inhaler. "Shh." It said rocking her back and forth, rubbing circles on her back, calming her down, calming her breathing. "Deep breaths, that's it." The voice said against her temple as the tears subsided and she felt her chest relax. She turned her head, and saw to her surprise Lois standing beside her. "He's gonna be ok." Lois assured her. "He's a fighter." Chloe just nodded, never once had she ever doubted her cousin, ever thought that Lois could be wrong about something so if Lois said Oliver was going to be ok, he was going to be ok.

They sat there for almost an hour Chloe staring at Oliver, almost willing him to get better while Lois sat and made sure Chloe didn't do the one thing Lois knew she wanted to do. When Chloe reached out for the fifth time toward Oliver's chest where most of his burns were Lois grabbed her wrist. "You can't do it Chlo, for one thing, you're in no condition to heal him, for another he would be pissed."

"I know." Chloe whispered, feeling utterly and completely useless.

"You want to go get a smoothie?" Lois asked her.

"God no." Chloe shook her head and looked around to make sure there was no one else in the room. "Think you could sneak me some real food, something solid, that I have to chew?" She pleaded. "Something that doesn't taste like fruit?"

Lois smiled. "I know a guy who knows a guy who delivers to hospitals, very discreetly."

Chloe leaned back in her chair in relief. "Can he get it here in five minutes?" Lois whipped out her phone.

"Time me."

They sat in a storage closet down the hall from Chloe's room and Lois looked around confused as Chloe opened the Chinese take out box and just smelled it for a minute. "Seriously, I mean I'm not picky but I'd rather not eat next to a smelly mop."

"Bart's got eyes and more importantly, signed contracts, everywhere." Chloe smiled before taking her chopsticks and stuffing a bite of spicy shrimp in her mouth. "God I missed chewing." She collapsed against the back wall. "So uh, where you been?"

"I guess my absence this past week has been slightly conspicuous." Lois sighed.

"Slightly." Chloe agreed.

"I was raised on army bases, I have seen soldiers collectively go off on a hundred and seventy five war time tours, and twenty of those were the Generals alone. But when you moved out here, it was the first time I was actually worried and then there's your building on National Television, in ruins, Oliver's in the hospital and you're unaccounted for."

"I was fine." Chloe reminded her.

"But I didn't know that, and I was always of the belief that no news was good news. So as long as I didn't come here, and visit you, I could pretend that you were sitting in your apartment safe and sound." Lois took a deep breath.

"It really doesn't work that way." Chloe grabbed an egg roll from Lois' box.

"I know, and trust me, Clark tore into me about that." Lois said. "I'm sorry, but you're my best friend, my cousin whose really more like a sister to me and the closest family member that I've ever had. So I'm warning you right now. You only get one and this is yours."

"My only what?" Chloe asked.

"Your only near death episode." Lois said. "Cause I'm not coming back to the hospital to visit you."

"Even if I'm having a baby?" Chloe asked her.

"Oh my god." Lois dropped her Chinese food box on the ground and lunged toward Chloe's stomach. "Are you pregnant?"

"No." Chloe pushed her away laughing. "It's just a hypothetical. I mean Oliver and I haven't even...every time we start to try to, something happens and we're interrupted…it was just a hypothetical."

"So that's a change from a few months ago when you were admittedly protesting that the two of you were just friends." Lois smiled.

Chloe wasn't sure what to say to that but in the end she never had to reply because the door was thrown open. They looked up to see Bart standing in the doorway, his arms across his chest, glaring at Chloe and Lois, with Clark behind him. "She did it." Chloe tossed her Chinese food container at Lois and jumped to her feet.

"Two hours." Bart said. "Two hours I'm gone for and you've gotten out of bed, visited Oliver, snuck Chinese food." Bart turned his ire on Lois who actually seemed to shrink in shame. "I expected this from her, but you, you're more responsible than that. I'm so disappointed. In the both of you."

Lois climbed to her feet and ducked her head. Bart shook his head and walked away, mumbling to himself. "That's another week of smoothies." Chloe sighed.

"You know I've gotten lectured by the Secretary of Defense, but that…that actually made me feel bad. I got a bit teary eyed." Lois admitted.

"I know he comes off as slightly immature, but he's got this strangely magnetic authority." Chloe explained. "It just showed up out of nowhere."

"Room, now." Bart called from down the hall.

"Is it just me, or is it kind of sexy?" Lois smiled at Bart as they walked back into Chloe's room.

"That's disturbing." Chloe said. "And he's taken. He's dating my assistant actually."

"Lucky girl." Lois winked at Bart as she passed him and looked to Clark confused.

"What is the outside world like?" Chloe asked Oliver's nurse after week two in the hospital. She wasn't even allowed outside the building because it was the middle of spring and the amount of allergens in the air would just land her right back where she was. "Do we still have grass?"

The nurse chuckled. "Yep, grass and sun, and flowers and bees." She said tucking the blanket closer to Oliver. "You'll see it all again in a few weeks if you listen to your doctor."

"What?" Chloe squeaked, her voice still horrible. "I listen." The nurse looked pointedly at the newspaper in her lap and then at Oliver and Chloe squirmed in her seat. She wasn't supposed to be reading him the paper, too much strain on her vocal cords but she had nothing else to do. "I listen a little." Chloe shrugged.

The nurse just snorted and walked out of the room. "Where were we?" Chloe asked flipping the page and looking down. "Oh, Congress spent all day yesterday debating something that will never get past the Senate, there was an roadside bomb in Iraq, let's find something interesting…oh, here we go, German police Dogs to get shoes, now that's in depth journalism." Chloe smiled.

"Why do German police dogs need shoes?" A voice, almost scratchier than hers asked and her head shot up to look into the somewhat disoriented blue eyes of Oliver Queen, an awake Oliver Queen.

"Because their feet…are getting scratched up, broken glass and stuff…" She'd been sitting here, waiting for him to wake up for almost a month and she was talking about shoes for dogs. "I don't…I'm going to get a doctor." She stood up suddenly and turned to walk away. She stopped and looked at Oliver for a minute, memorizing the lines on his face as a small smile broke out. "I'll just be a minute…" She said taking another step for the door as amusement lit up his features.

"Is there a problem?" Oliver asked quietly.

"I just…it seems I can't leave the room." Chloe let out a chuckle.

"Then don't." Oliver told her.

"I've got to get a nurse." She said walking back to her seat, away from the door. "Or a doctor, a doctor would be better."

"I've got a button." Oliver told her and pointed to the side of his bed, where indeed there was a call button. Chloe smiled sheepishly and pushed the button.

Three hours later, when the nurses and doctors were satisfied that he was awake, knew the date to a certain point, knew who the president was and seemed to be doing pretty well given the circumstances, it was just the two of them again. Strict instructions were given to make sure he took it easy and Chloe laughed as the last doctor left the room with one last warning glance in her direction. "Do they think I'm going to jump your bones as soon as they're gone?" Chloe laughed.

"You mean you aren't?" Oliver asked.

"Not tonight cowboy." Chloe said settling herself back in her seat and reaching for the paper. His hand grabbed hers, forcing her to look at him and she smiled again, she couldn't stop smiling, until he frowned.

"The others?" He asked.

"They're fine, they're all fine, I really should call someone actually but to be honest I just don't want to." Chloe laughed and Oliver smiled. "Kinda want to keep you all to myself for a while." He slowly, unconsciously started to rub Chloe's wrist with his thumb until he hit something. He opened his eyes curiously and pulled her wrist up to his line of vision and saw an ID bracelet, identical to his.

"Why are you in the hospital?" He asked hoarsely.

"Bad Asthma attack." Chloe said telling him her side of the story, of being caught by Lex, of running to save him, of failing.

"Your inhaler didn't work?" Oliver asked confused.

"I didn't have my inhaler." Chloe said.

"The doctor told you to keep it on you at all times, all times." He sounded a little angry. "Where did you leave it?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "In your coat pocket." She said. Realization dawned on his face, him helping her out with the attack in the elevator, and then slipping it in his pocket and never taking it out.

"Oh." He said sheepishly. "Well, we'll get you two, no maybe three, I'll hold one, you hold one and we'll put one in your car." said his grip tightening on her wrist. "And maybe get Megan one and Victor, and Bart because he can be where ever you are in like two seconds…"

"You want to just pass them out to the citizens of Star City?" Chloe joked. "Or maybe put up emergency inhaler boxes all over town: In case of asthma attack break glass and take a deep breath?"

"I could do that." Oliver joked.

Chloe pulled her wrist free from his hand and smiled at the frown on his face. She took his hand in hers, lacing her fingers with his and smiled. "It wouldn't have done much good anyway, Dr. Emil said so, apparently on top of the asthma, I was having a panic attack so…"

"Panic attack?" Oliver asked.

"The building you were in blew up in front of me, I thought you were dead and on top of that I was already having trouble breathing from the run over." Chloe pointed out. "But it's all good, they had to do a tracheotomy and they intubated me so I'm on a strict diet of ice cream and smoothies and Bart is going out of his way to make me crazy smoothies. Tomorrow's Persimmon Pomegranate Party. If you play your cards right I might be inclined to share.

"I'd really rather not." Oliver smiled at her and unable to stop herself she started to cry. "Oh, hey, come on. I'll taste the smoothie." Chloe laughed through her tears and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Seriously, it's ok. I'm ok. I'm awake, and I've got very little brain damage according to the doctor." Chloe sobbed harder. "Right bad joke, my fault." He wiped her tears away.

"Sorry, I think it's all just catching up to me." Chloe sighed.

"So Lex knows." Oliver changed the subject.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded.

"We're going to have to do something about that." Oliver told her.

"Oh don't worry, we've got it covered." Chloe assured him.

"Come on, just a bit further." Chloe said at the pained look on Oliver's face. They walked through the door to his penthouse and closed it behind them with her foot. She helped him down the hall and into the bedroom.

"You don't have to stay." Oliver groaned as she lowered him down to a lying position on the bed.

"And what happens when you have to pee in the middle of the night?" She looked up at him and blew the hair from her face. He groaned. "What?" She asked smiling.

"It's just…we haven't even…you know yet and if you're helping me go to the bathroom…it's just gonna take the mystery out before we even get started properly." Oliver told her.

"One." Chloe smiled and sat down next to him, grabbing his arm and checking the bandages. "It was me or Bart." Oliver winced and she moved to the bandage on the side of his chest which had to be changed. She got up and grabbed her bag and came back to the bed. "Two, I hate to break it to you like this." She smiled up at him as she pulled the tape away. "There is no mystery, and we have already…you know."

He raised his eyebrows. "Where was I for this?" He smiled as she pulled on her gloves and applied the ointment.

"Drunk." She smiled at him. "Three years ago." She placed fresh bandages on his abdomen and smiled. "We'd finalized the last sets of designs for JL Towers, and were breaking ground in a week. You took me out to celebrate."

"I vaguely remember that." Oliver thought hard.

"Well, that time, you were drunk enough to ask me to stay again and I was drunk enough to accept." She explained getting rid of the old bandages and putting her bag away.

"And you remembered?" Oliver asked and she nodded as she checked his leg bandages. "And never said anything."

"Well, you were about to be my boss we were going to be working together pretty closely and since you didn't remember I didn't want to be the one to tell you and make things weird between us. I also didn't want to become one the many girls in the "One Night Stand With Oliver Queen" Club."

"You would never have been one of those girls." Oliver assured her.

"Take your medicine." She said walking to his bathroom and closing the door.

When she walked out she had changed into her night clothes and grabbed a blanket from the closet. "Where are you going?" Oliver asked.

"Just the couch." She pointed in the direction of the living room.

"You can…" He looked at the large bed. "There's more than enough room."

"I don't want to hurt you." She motioned to his bandages.

"My left side is fine." He reminded her and she smiled and walked to the left side of the bed and laid down gently. Oliver laughed when she left about three feet of space between them. "Closer." She scooted over a bit. "Closer." He kept motioning her closer until she was pressed up against him, her head resting lightly on his chest as his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"This ok?" She whispered.

"This is more than ok." Oliver kissed her forehead.

Author's Note: First of all I need to point out that I know nothing about gas or electricity. As far as I'm concerned when I turn on the light switch, tiny little people inside the light bulb light a little candle. I see electricity as like, magic, it's easier to understand that way. I also know absolutely nothing about structural engineering or if anything I wrote in the whole building/exploding/collapsing scene was remotely true. It was all written with entertainment in mind and not accuracy. What I do know is exotic fruit and all of the fruits mentioned are real and ridiculously delicious.


	6. Chapter 6

"I really do have to go." Chloe pulled away from Oliver's side and he protested slightly.

"No you don't." Oliver grabbed her waist.

"I've been cooped up in this apartment with you all day, every day since you got out of the hospital." Chloe kissed him softly. "I mean I've really enjoyed this little solitary cocoon that we've been in for the past two weeks. It's been great, locking ourselves away in here but if I don't go out and talk to other people, breathe in some fresh air, and just honestly get away from you for a few hours, I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

Oliver smiled and kissed her again. "Only for a few hours?" He asked her.

"Promise I'll be back before…" Chloe looked at the clock on the television. "I'll be back before Jeopardy." Chloe paused, and watched the television as the commercial for diapers ended and Family Feud started up. "And then I think we need to have a talk about this unhealthy obsession we've formed for the Game Show Network." Chloe reached for the remote.

"Hey." Oliver pulled his arm back, holding the remote out of her reach. "Don't hate on the GSN." He warned her.

Chloe laughed reaching higher for the remote and Oliver took the opportunity steal a kiss. Between the sudden shift from laughter to intimacy, compacted with the fact that Chloe was about to leave him for the first time in two weeks, a chaste kiss changed into something so much more. The remote fell to the floor forgotten as Oliver pulled her closer, causing her to bump into his hip, which made him pull away and cry out in pain.

Chloe climbed off the bed, a smile on her face, and Oliver winced. "That wasn't what it sounded like."

"You know the rules." Chloe reminded him and Oliver pulled a face at her. The fact that they never got to consummate their relationship, unless you counted a drunken night three years ago, (which Oliver didn't because he couldn't remember it and Chloe had admitted herself that she didn't really remember it either), the sexual tension had been rising exponentially between the two of them the more time they spent together.

That inevitably led to the both of them going too far and Oliver getting hurt. Initially Chloe put a complete moratorium on any and all physical contact but that didn't go over too well. Oliver swore that he could control himself and stop before he got hurt. That also didn't work very well because Oliver severely overestimated his ability to resist Chloe. So Chloe came up with a new rule to motivate him. If at any point while the two of them were fooling around, Oliver hurt himself, then Chloe stopped immediately and spent the night away from him in the guest room. So Oliver's momentary grunt of pain was going to cost him dearly.

"Oliver was never a stickler for the rules." Lois said from the doorway. "You ready to go?"

"You were actually serious about leaving me alone?" Oliver sat up straighter in the bed.

"Oh, I'm not leaving you alone sweetie." Chloe assured him. "I've got you a babysitter."

"A babysitter?" Oliver balked at her. "I'm not a four year old who has to be watched at all times."

"No but you can't pee on your own can you?" Lois smirked. "A four year old can do that."

"Have I told you lately how glad I am that we broke up?" Oliver sneered at her.

"Glad?" Lois scoffed. "You're lucky is what you are. This one has been babying you for the past two weeks. If it were up to me you'd have been on your own as soon as the hospital released you."

"You're going to make a great mom someday." Oliver told her.

"I know, right." Lois said either not catching the sarcasm, or choosing to ignore it.

"So what did you hire a nurse or something?" Oliver turned back to Chloe.

"Better." Bart said from the doorway.

"Bart?" Oliver asked in disbelief. "Bart!"

"He's good." Chloe said. "He'll make sure you don't do something you're not supposed to do and he's the best at making sure you stay in bed."

"I'll bet he is." Lois had turned away from Oliver, all of her attention focused on Bart.

Chloe looked at Lois and then at Bart. "This is getting slightly ridiculous you know that right?" Chloe mumbled to Lois under her breath.

"He looks really good in red don't you think?" Lois asked Chloe and then smiled.

Chloe turned to Bart who was going over his rules with Oliver. "I'm not your maid, if you need something, I'll go get it, if you want something and you can't reach it from your spot on the bed, you better hope I'm feeling generous."

Lois giggled, actually giggled. "Is it me or did it just get hot in here?" Lois started fanning her face.

"Ok, we're leaving before I have to throw up." Chloe grabbed Lois' elbow and pulled her to the door stopping by the bed to give Oliver a quick kiss goodbye.

"Hi Bart." Lois waved at him demurely.

"Hey Lois." He smiled and nodded then turned back to Oliver.

"Come on." Chloe grabbed her and pulled her out of the room toward the elevator.

"I'll see you later." Lois called after him.

"Ok, this whole thing with you and Bart is weird." Chloe told her. "It used to be slightly entertaining but now it's just weird. What the hell?"

"I don't know. I think it was because he was so take charge in the hospital." Lois said. "He was so authoritative, barking orders, it just got to me."

"I used to think that whole thing about girls really looking for their fathers was crap, but now, I'm not so sure." Chloe laughed as they walked in the elevator.

"Ok." Lois pushed the button for the ground floor. "Seriously now. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"I think so." Chloe took a deep breath and nodded. They rode down in silence until Lois turned to Chloe.

"So how serious is it between him and this Megan chick?" Lois asked and Chloe glared at her. "What?"

**********

"So like that hard ass, stay in bed stuff was just for Chloe's benefit right?" Oliver laughed as the elevator doors closed.

Bart smiled. "No." He shook his head. "You're going to eat your lunch, take your medicine and then according to the schedule Chloe gave me it'll be time for your afternoon nap."

"Very funny." Oliver turned the volume up on the television and Bart sped over, grabbed the remote from him, and turned it off. "Getting less funny by the minute."

"Not trying to be funny." Bart shrugged.

Oliver tilted his head to the side and looked at Bart, really looked at him. "You know, you've changed. What happened?"

"Not much. My friends, my family and my home were blown up." Bart answered him seriously.

"Right." Oliver softened slightly. "Look how about this. I don't take the medicine, I don't take the nap, and I definitely don't eat whatever it is that Chloe left for my lunch."

"How about this." Bart countered. "You eat the lunch that Chloe left, you take the medicine and you take the damn nap."

"You're being serious?" Oliver sat up straighter.

"I didn't drag your ass out of that building just to have you die of some stupid secondary infection or something." Bart told him then froze.

"I knew it." Oliver painfully pulled himself to his feet. "I knew it. You saved me."

Bart scoffed. "Where did you get that crazy idea?"

"From you, you just said it." Oliver smiled and took a few limping steps toward him.

"I said no such thing." Bart shook his head.

"I've had a lot of time, a lot of time to think about it and it's the only thing that makes sense. They said that the blast threw me across the lobby, through the windows and into the street, but that's not what happened." Oliver shook his head.

"Everything happened so fast, I'm sure you just don't remember." Bart told him.

"What I remember is that I was nowhere near the windows. In fact there was a reception desk and wall between me and the windows. Explain to me how exactly I went through both of those without any extra damage." Oliver's legs went shaky and Bart shot forward to catch him.

"You need to get back into bed." Bart pleaded with him. "You're hip can't handle your weight yet."

"Not until you admit it." Oliver said.

"Fine." Bart glared at him. "I saved you. Happy?"

"Yes." Oliver said climbing back into the bed. "But how did you do it? The building was locked down."

Bart sighed. "If I tell you will you take your medicine and eat your lunch."

"Depending on how entertaining the story is, I might even take my nap." Oliver told him. "What happened that day?"

**********

Bart was relatively sure that no one fully understood the extent of his powers. If you asked anyone who knew they would simply tell you that he ran fast and that was it. But that wasn't it. They joked about his constant energy, short attention span, inability to sit still, and ridiculous caloric intake but they never asked the reason. Bart didn't simply have the ability to run fast, Bart was fast.

To put it in perspective, everyone around him lived their life in real time. It seemed strange for the fasted man on the planet, but he was so fast that he actually lived his life in slow motion. He saw things before anyone else saw them, heard things before anyone else heard them, felt things before anyone else felt them. Seconds lasted hours, hours lasted days. Bart sometimes got the feeling that he wasn't moving too fast, the rest of the world was just moving too slow. People talked about events happening in a split second but that concept seemed impossible to him.

Take this example: There is a small table and on that table is a glass of water. If something should bump into that table, by the time it would take for a normal person's brain to process the fact that the glass was falling over, send a signal to the hand to reach out and grab the glass, and for the hand to respond, the glass would already be in shards on the ground and the water soaking into the carpet. Bart's brain saw the glass tip slightly and before the water even reached the rim of the cup, his brain had processed what was going on, sent a message to his hand and his hand had responded, righting the glass on the table. All of this happening so fast that even someone watching him intently wouldn't even be able to tell he'd moved.

When he was growing up it was hard. He would often answer questions before they were finished being asked, not because he was psychic but because by the time they were halfway through the question Bart had had enough time to go through all the possible endings, pick the most likely one and formulate his answer. He couldn't pay attention in school because the miniscule pauses in between sentences felt like lifetimes, lifetimes that Bart could have already thought up and done something else and been back in his seat.

It wasn't until he joined up with Oliver and his team that he felt like he truly belonged. He liked the work that they were doing, he liked that he could be open about his powers and that there were even people who appreciated them. The one thing he wasn't sold on though was the whole concept of a secret identity. The funny thing was now he had two of them. The first one, Impulse, everyone knew about.

The second one was truly a secret. Only Bart and God knew about it and he was hoping to keep it that way but Oliver wasn't going to let him. It started out initially as a way to pass the time. The first time they all went out as a team, Bart finished his mission before the others even had a chance to start theirs. So instead of sitting around, twiddling his thumbs he figured he might as well do something useful and took a few turns around the complex, just to be sure everyone were safe and they weren't. It amazed him how focused they all became on one thing during a mission, so much so that in the first ten minutes of the first mission they ever had, each of them managed to almost get caught.

Too busy worrying about computer screens, Victor failed to secure his area completely. He'd left the door to the server room wide open which was sure to catch the attention of the guard doing his nightly rounds, but Bart caught sight of it first, swiftly and quietly shut the door for Victor and the guard just walked on by. AC almost tripped two alarms as he went around the complex setting the explosives but Bart ran in front of him disabling the systems before he had a chance. Oliver was the worst, while concentrating on the going through the facilities files he'd been discovered by a guard who had snuck up on him and was in the process of pulling his gun when Bart came along. He managed to disarm the guard, render him unconscious and pull him outside with the rest before Oliver even closed the filing cabinet and turned around.

All of those things had been done with the rest of the team none the wiser that they were either in any danger or of the fact that Bart had just saved them. His first instinct had been to shove it in their faces, flaunt his superiority, tease them on their incompetence and demand IOU's. But something stopped him and instead he silently reveled in the fact that they were all safe because of him and they would never even know it.

Suddenly it became a ritual on every mission. He would finish his task and then go look after the others from the shadows. The more they worked at it though the better they got and pretty soon they didn't need him to save them as much. Then Chloe joined the team and she took over his job without even realizing it, watching over everyone from afar. It didn't stop Bart however, the habit had become so ingrained in him that it started to spill over into everyday life. He wasn't always saving their lives, mostly it was just doing little things for him, things they didn't even realize needed to be done, things they would never even know he had done.

He would do a sweep of their neighborhoods and cars before he went to bed to make sure their doors were locked and they were secure. He would always have a fresh pot of coffee brewing as soon as Chloe poured the last cup of the old one.

Victor was usually busy trying to crack into one of Lex's hard drives and he never paid attention to his surroundings. More times than Bart could count Victor would be so enthralled in something on his screen that he would go to set his coffee cup down, only to miss the table by a few inches. Bart would run and catch the cup before it hit the ground, place it on the edge of Victor's desk and watch as he picked it up and took a sip, never even knowing what might have been.

Chloe liked to move when she worked, walking around the room as she did her research. Sometimes she was so involved in what she was reading that she didn't necessarily pay attention to her surroundings and if it weren't for Bart her legs would be covered in bruises from running into various pieces of furniture. As it was, Bart simply moved the offending object from her path and returned it to its rightful place after she'd walked by.

With Oliver splitting his time between JL Towers and Star Labs, he was constantly leaving behind important documents at one building or the other, never bringing them where they needed to be. So instead of making Oliver run around town trying to keep track of everything, Bart simply picked them up and had them on his desk, whether he was downtown or across the country, before Oliver even knew that he'd left them somewhere.

Just last month, Oliver had left the final contracts for the merger with Bill Robbins on Chloe's kitchen counter and Bart had them in Oliver's briefcase in New York in time for the meeting, probably saving his company. And on the day of the explosion, Bart had pulled Oliver from the building at the last second and saved his life.

**********

_Bart's hands were shaking and he paused to take a deep breath before going back to the task at hand. The process to shut off the buildings electricity supply was a lot more involved than he thought. Initially he'd assumed it be as easy as flipping a switch in a breaker, but there wasn't just a main switch he could shut off. The next option would have been to just sever the main feed line but Victor was apparently worried that doing that would cause a sudden surge, which would cause a spark, which would make the building go boom. What it came down to was that Bart had to manually disconnect each access point in the large junction box, very slowly, very carefully and in a specific order._

_Bart was always more for the fast and the furious, the snatch and grabs, the stealth stuff. He'd never been one for slow and steady meticulous work; he left that kind of stuff up to Victor and Chloe. But Victor was stuck in the building and Chloe was…he didn't even want to think about Chloe, didn't want to think about where she could be or what could have happened to her just because of him. He'd been out with Megan, they went to a movie then had a late dinner and when he got Chloe's text, instead of looking at it instantly, which is something he'd have done any other time, he ignored it, and then forgot about it. Now because of that she could be taken or hurt or even dead and he'd never forgive himself. He pulled the wire from the breaker and relaxed slightly only a few more to go. He was about to send a text to Oliver asking which wire to disconnect next when he got a text instead. _

_Bart read the text twice and when he realized what Oliver was trying to tell him, he read it a third time because it couldn't possibly mean what he thought it did. _

Clear the street. Make sure EMT's are standing by. Megan and others on top floor, should be safe. Find Chloe and take care of her for me. Pleasure working with you.

_This was goodbye. They were going to blow the building. They were banking on everyone else being safe. Chances were Victor, in all his bionic glory could survive the explosion no problem but Oliver, he wouldn't be so lucky. They often joked about the fact that their fearless leader was the only one among them without a power of some kind. They knew that with a bow in his hands there was no one he couldn't get the better of, powers or not, but when it came down to it he was a human. Bart could outrun danger, Victor could face it head on and just roll over it. Given the right conditions, a heavy rainstorm, the middle of the ocean, hell access to a nearby fountain, AC had power enough to stop trains but Oliver, he was fleshy and pink and squishy and fragile. _

_They would never say that to his face, or even aloud behind his back because he would never admit to it and they would never insult him that way but it was something that they all worried about every time they went out together. Oliver always had the highest mortality rate and it had just skyrocketed to 99%. If it was just an explosion there was a chance that Oliver could shield himself, come out of it ok, but the building was going to fall down on top of him and there was no getting out of that one. Unless you happened to have a very talented friend like Bart. _

_He smiled to himself and abandoned the breaker box. There was no use worrying about that if they were going to blow it anyway. He sped over to the front off the building, swallowed hard at the never ending line of thick glass windows in front of him and waited. He felt the pressure in the air increase and braced himself only a second before the shock wave tore up through the basement floor and exploded through the wall of windows, shattering them out into the street. He had to fight the urge to run as the shards of glass headed straight for him. Instead he just covered his eyes as best as he could and ran straight into the building._

_For probably the millionth time in his life Bart wished that just once someone else could see the world like he saw it, or at the very least that he could string together a sentence that would adequately describe it. Those nature documentaries where they slow the camera speed down and you can see the incredible majesty of a hummingbird flapping it's wings, that's what Bart saw every second of every day. He looked around the lobby floor for Oliver and witnessed the one of the most beautiful and frightening things he'd ever see. There was a wall of flames that had erupted through the floor and was heading at a snail's pace, for Bart anyway, toward him. People say that fire is a living thing and as it crept it's way along the lobby floor in search of oxygen Bart finally understood what that meant. The fire cast light and shadow on all the shards of broken glass that lay suspended in the air creating tons of fleeting rainbows as if the sun were shining through a million tiny prisms. _

_Bart saw Oliver at the far end of the room, his left side engulfed in the fire even as he tried to shield himself from it. Bart watched in the millisecond it took him to cover half the ground, a piece of debris slam into Oliver's head and he started to fall to the ground. Bart skimmed the edge of the flames, running as fast as he could, his shirt and skin scorching even at the break neck speed, glass whipping around him, creating tiny cuts all over his face and arms. He reached Oliver, dipping slightly in the flames to grab him and pull him out, just long enough to burn holes in his shirt but not enough to damage his skin. Bart used his own momentum combined with the force of the shockwave to propel the both of them outside and onto the street. _

_Bart caught his breath as he laid Oliver on the ground. He was already unconscious from the blow to the head and the burns were starting to blister over parts of his body. There was probably some internal damage from the sheer force of the explosion. Bart looked around and grabbed one of the EMT's that just arrived and pulled him toward Oliver. He made up a quick story about watching him get thrown out of the building by the blast and paced around until they'd looked him over and had him loaded up on the ambulance. Bart was about to head back into the building, trying to gauge how long he had before the structure gave out and calculating how many people he could get to safety before that happened when he heard an argument._

"_Please." The woman grabbed the arm of the fireman. "She's right over here."_

"_Lady, in case you didn't notice, a building exploded a minute ago, we'll get to your friend in a minute." He brushed her off and walked away. _

"_But she's not breathing." The woman called after him. "She had some sort of attack." _

_The words 'not breathing' and 'attack' piqued Bart's interest and against all odds he convinced himself that the woman was talking about Chloe, he was by her side in an instant. "Show me." Bart urged her and she nodded, dragging him down the street to where, sure enough, Chloe was lying on the ground, unconscious, not breathing._

_He sat down next to her and wished he'd had one of her inhalers on him but wasn't even sure if it would do any good. "Go grab an EMT, make him come over here by force if you have to. She's got severe asthma and her airways are closed." Bart told the woman who nodded and took off down the street. _

_Bart leaned down and started giving Chloe CPR, willing her to wake up even if it was just to tell him to stop trying to kiss her. The firemen suddenly immerged from the building at once screaming for everyone to get back and then they all heard the tell tale screeching of metal that signified the structure was going to collapse. For a fleeting second as the building fell in on itself, Bart remembered that Megan was in the building. He looked down at the unconscious girl in his lap and then over at the building that contained his girlfriend and knew he had to choose. For the first time in his life he was probably actually frozen. Then Chloe opened up her eyes and the choice was made for him. _

"_You're gonna be fine you hear me." Bart cradled Chloe's head in his lap as the ambulance sounded behind him. "Hey." He smiled at her. "Just stay with me ok. You gotta promise me you'll stay with me. I mean now that you've finally admitted that you're in love with me you don't get to die on me."_

_The girl returned with a paramedic and Bart gave him all the medical information he could think of and then called Dr. Emil so he could meet the ambulance at the hospital. He took his time, actually walking instead of running down the street as the smoke started to clear. He'd made his choice, and he hadn't just chosen Chloe over Megan he chose Chloe over everyone in JL Towers, and he'd do it all over again if he had to. Still there was something in his gut, a twisting, wrenching feeling when he thought about Megan being in that building. He let out a deep breath as the rest of the dust finally cleared and he saw here, standing on a pile of wood and steel, without a scratch on her, surrounded by AC, Holly, Jordan, and everyone else in the building. AC turned to her astonished and pulled her into a crushing hug before spinning her around and cheering. _

_Without thinking about it he laughed and as if she could hear him, she turned, saw him and smiled. She tried unsuccessfully to climb down the rubble to get to him, against the protests of the firemen, who were still in shock so Bart rushed up to meet her, pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry I would have been here sooner but…"_

"_I understand." Megan interrupted him. "How's Chloe?" _

"_She's fine now, on her way to the hospital." Bart explained in relief. "She had an attack and she wasn't breathing for a while but she's fine." _

"_Oliver?" Megan grabbed his arm and Bart helped her climb down the mountain of debris with the others behind her._

"_He's not so good, he was blown out of the building, the EMT said he broke ribs and possibly his hip." Bart explained. _

"_Victor?" AC called out. _

_Bart stopped and looked down the pile of rubble. "AC…" Megan called to him._

"_I'm on it. Jordan, grab a few guys follow me." AC told him and Jordan nodded. "Do you know where abouts we should start digging for him?" _

"_East side, start near the area where the gas pipe enters the building." Bart told him. _

"_We need to get to the hospital and check on Oliver and Chloe." Megan slid down the rest of the ruble until she hit solid ground. EMT's swarmed around her but she brushed them off annoyed. "Emily I need you to do a full inventory, make sure everyone is accounted for, you can do that without a hard copy list of employees can't you?" _

"_On it already. I'm missing short curly haired guy from the horticulture lab with the thick black rimmed glasses. You know the one who smells like cabbage." Emily studied everyone's faces. _

"_That's Frank, he called in sick." Peter said as he made it to the ground. "Not that he's actually sick. He thinks he's the only one who knows that Comic Con started today. You mark my words, drive down to the San Diego Convention center and you'll find him there." _

"_Probably dressed as Spock." Ryan from R&D scoffed. "Like Frank can pull off Spock." _

"_Yeah ok, for future reference I just need to know that he called in sick." Emily told him. _

"_Holly." Megan said. "I need you to get together a team that can stand guard out here. That building was full of technology that doesn't need to get out to the public." _

"_I'm on it." Holly nodded and started rounding up a group of guys. _

"_She talked." Bart said astonished. _

"_She did a whole lot more than that." Megan smiled. "Come on, let's get to the hospital. I'm almost positive if you don't check on Chloe in the next ten minutes then you're going to explode." _

_Bart leaned over suddenly and kissed her. "You're the most awesome girlfriend in the world you know that?" _

_Megan smiled and blushed and in two seconds gone was the take charge no nonsense woman from before and in her place was a lovesick teenager. "I'm your girlfriend?" _

"_Yeah." Bart nodded kissing her again. "You are. If that's ok with you?" _

"_Yeah it's ok, it's more than ok, it's awesome." Megan said. _

**********

"How long have you been doing that?" Oliver asked. "Watching over all of us like that?"

"I don't know, I just do it." Bart shrugged.

"We don't give you enough credit do we?" Oliver frowned.

"No one ever does." Bart tried to smile at him as he passed over Oliver's pills. "Don't worry about it."

"Why didn't you tell anyone what you did?" Oliver grabbed the pills and swallowed them. "How you saved me? You could be the big hero."

"You know me, I don't like to show off." Bart said. "Besides, I was just doing what you told me to do."

"I didn't tell you to run into an exploding building." Oliver countered.

"You told me to look after Chloe. The best way to do that is to make sure you're alive and here for her." Bart explained.

"That's…" Oliver shook his head as his whole preconceived notion of who Bart Allen was collapsed in one fell swoop. "That's really decent of you."

"Yeah well, I'm pretty sure she's in love with me and she just hasn't realized it yet. She's blinded by your charm and good looks and billionaire playboy lifestyle but eventually she'll get bored with all that stuff and trust me I'll be here waiting."

Oliver laughed, a little more comfortable now that the Bart he knew and loved emerged. "Is that so?" Oliver smiled.

"I've got all the time in the world." Bart assured him. "For future reference though, the whole "Take care of her" thing. Pretty much goes without saying."

"Good to know." Oliver nodded at Bart.

**********

Chloe couldn't remember how to pick up her right foot and move it in front of her left. That was a problem because at the moment she was in the middle of the street. The cars were honking and Lois was screaming at some guy in a BMW but Chloe couldn't move. She thought she was ready for this but she was wrong. "I can't do this." Chloe spun around and headed to the other side of the street.

Lois flipped off the guy in the BMW as he sped down the now open street and joined Chloe on the sidewalk. "You ok?"

"No." Chloe shook her head and sat down on the curb. Her breath came fast and heavy but her lungs didn't close this time. After realizing what her powers were, Chloe and Megan worked together a few hours a week and her asthma was almost gone. She lifted her head to look across the street at the half removed pile of rubble that was once JL Towers.

"You asked me to bring you here." Lois reminded her.

"I know and I'm sorry." Chloe told her. She wanted to see it, needed to see it for some reason. But now that she was here she wasn't ready.

"We can go." Lois offered.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "Just give me a minute." She took a few deep breaths and stood up. "Ok."

"You sure?" Lois asked. "Because there are cars coming and…" Before Lois could finish Chloe had sprinted across the street. Lois followed her. "Ok, we're here." Lois looked around. "What are we doing here?"

"I don't know." Chloe ducked under the rope and kicked a few burnt pieces of wood out of the way. "I just needed to see it, I needed to connect with it." She reached down and picked up what looked like the drawer to a desk.

She hadn't been there, she hadn't been a part of the whole explosion so for some reason, her mind couldn't seem connect the pile of rubble with JL Towers. This pile of debris was supposed to be the building that she spent three years of her life, poured her blood sweat and tears into. This was the place that she called her home and her home away from home, her dream that she built with Oliver from the ground up.

Most of the stuff had been cleared away but Chloe spotted a slab of marble from the entry way floor, a chunk of the mural that Oliver had inlayed with the X-men slogan, Mutatis mutandis. She made a mental note to tell Holly she wanted someone to get that out of there, to save it. Holly had done a good job coordinating a group to get anything sensitive out of the rubble and Megan had already set up a new base of operations in an old apartment complex downtown. It was nowhere near as great as JL Towers but there was housing for anyone who needed it, office and storage space that would work until Chloe and Oliver could get together and start over. Chloe seemed to shrink in on herself a bit. They had to start over, they had to start over from scratch. They had to rebuild everything, their whole lives, because of Lex.

Chloe was suddenly angry and it was a strange, strange feeling. She realized that it was because she hadn't been angry yet. She'd been scared, worried, relieved, run down but not angry yet. After all these years, all she'd been through she was just used to Lex trying to kill her, it didn't bother her anymore. It wasn't until she saw the ruins of her life splayed out before her that she got a reaction. It was one thing to kidnap her, experiment on her, try to kill her, she was fine with that. But he went after her friends, he went after her family and she was nowhere near fine with that.

Chloe turned around and stomped toward the car as Lois picked her way through debris. "Hey, wait…where are you going?" Lois struggled to keep up with her.

"I'm borrowing your car." Chloe said and Lois slid into the passenger seat. Chloe glared at her for a second then put the car in gear and drove off. She didn't say a word as she wove her way through the city, regarding all the street signs more as suggestions until she pulled into the apartment complex that was the temporary headquarters of the JLA. She left the car running as she went into the main office area.

"Hey Chloe, I didn't know you were coming in today." Megan jumped up from her desk. "You're supposed to be out relaxing." Chloe ignored her, passing around her and pulling the painting off the back wall to reveal a safe.

"Chloe you're starting to scare me." Lois followed her in the room as Chloe spun the dial on the safe, opened the door and pulled out a gun and an ammo clip. She slipped the clip in the gun, loaded a bullet into the chamber and then checked that the safety was off before closing the safe and heading back for the door. "Whoa, now you're really scaring me." Lois put her hands out and stopped Chloe in the middle of the room. "What the hell are you doing?"

"He can't just get away with this." Chloe said pained as she pushed past Lois and out the door.

"What's going on?" Megan asked shocked.

"She's going after Lex." Lois sighed.

"Don't worry." Megan assured her and she ran out of the building.

**********

Chloe glanced at the gun on the passenger seat of the car and hesitated but just for a second. She didn't particularly like guns but Oliver made sure she at least knew how to handle one in case of an emergency. As far as she was concerned this was an emergency. She knew the moment she opened her eyes in that hospital bed that something had to be done about Lex. She knew the whole time she was in the hospital, the whole time Oliver was in the hospital. She even told Oliver that she was taking care of the whole situation but she wasn't. She didn't know why, maybe she hadn't had the motivation until twenty minutes ago when she saw that broken seal but what she did know was that Lex had to pay, he had to pay dearly and he had to pay now.

Chloe looked up and was surprised to see Holly, Emily, Jordan, and Megan standing a few feet away in front of the car. Chloe rolled her window down. "Move." Megan shook her head defiantly. "Fine then have it your way." She put the car in gear and slammed her foot on the accelerator. She assumed they'd move out of her way and panicked for a second when they stayed put. The bumper of her car was a mere inches from plowing the four of them down when Megan put a hand on Holly's arm and suddenly Chloe's car was stopped almost violently, the wheels still spinning as she found herself contained inside a large blue shimmery bubble.

Chloe, stopped the car and turned it off, glaring at Holly. She dropped the bubble and Chloe climbed out of the car. "We know what you want to do, trust us we get it." Emily smiled at her.

"But we can't let you do this." Megan told her. "Killing him isn't going to make you feel better."

"I beg to differ." Chloe laughed coldly. "Killing him is going to make me feel a hell of a lot better." They stood their ground and she sighed. "Guys I used to be just like you, thinking there was a better way, a way to save him, a way to stop him, but there's not. This is the only way. You can't save Lex Luther."

"We don't want to save him." Holly said. "Far from it. I'd storm over to his hotel room right now and pull the trigger myself for the things he did to me but death is too good for him. It's an easy way out and he deserves so much more than that."

"We've had a lot of time these past few weeks, nothing but time, to sit and think about ways to make him pay for what he did to us, what he did to you and what he did to Oliver." Jordan explained. "Death is too good for him. Jail wouldn't work, he's got too many connections, but we think we've come up with the perfect idea. We just need someone who can work out the logistics of it all, and that's what you do best."

Chloe calmed herself down slightly. They were right; death and jail were too good for Lex. "I'm listening."

"All right." Jordan said and Emily, Megan, and Holly sighed in relief. Chloe followed them back into the office space and put the gun back in the safe, locking it away again then turned to Jordan. "You may not know this but I wasn't always the upstanding citizen you see before you. Do you know what a long con is?"

"Yeah it's a scam that takes months, sometimes years to pull off." Chloe said skeptically.

"Exactly." Jordan said. "Our plan is basically a long con. It's going to take a lot of time, a lot of planning and patience. But if we pull this off, then we can take from Lex what he took from us, without killing anyone." Chloe raised her eyebrows at him.

"What's that?" Chloe asked.

"His life." Jordan pointed out.

***********

This was slightly shorter than your used to from me but it initially this whole part of the story was only supposed to be two or three pages and then Bart's story took on a life of it's own. I thought it was time we pointed out how awesome he really was. Also on the subject of the whole Lois and Bart thing, it was definitly not planned and I have no idea where I'm going with it. I will tell you that I was just as surprised by the whole thing as you guys were. Sometimes when your writing your characters go in a different direction than you had planned and you just have to go with it. So hope you enjoy, and next up Lex gets his just deserets!!!


	7. Chapter 7

"Just put the gun down Lex." Chloe said slowly and cautiously. "You haven't hurt anyone; you can still get out of this." She inched slightly to her left, closer to Holly who was sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees while she rocked back and forth.

"Stop." Lex aimed the gun straight at her and Chloe froze in place, putting her hands up in the air to placate him.

"She's really scared Lex." Chloe pressed on. "I just want to make sure she's ok."

"She's fine." Lex brushed Chloe off. "You think I don't know that this whole thing is an act?" He laughed manically. "She's just doing it for the camera. She wants to look like the poor defenseless girl so I look like the monster. Well I'm not the monster, she is. She's a freak and the whole worlds going to know soon enough." Lex turned to man beside him holding a large news camera.

"I can't do this." The man holding the camera said as he started to lower it to the ground.

"Keep shooting." Lex aimed the gun at him, which only served to make him more nervous.

"Hey!" Chloe called out to get his attention. "What's your name?"

"Steve." He stuttered out.

"It's going to be ok Steve." Chloe assured him. "Everything's going to be ok. We're going to get out of this. I just need you to hold on for a little while longer." He nodded and Chloe smiled. "Ok, I want you to take a deep breath for me, and then pick up the camera ok?"

"Ok." Steve nodded and took a deep breath, calming himself down. Lex reached out and grabbed Chloe by her arm and forcibly pulled her to face him.

"Shut up." He snarled at her. "Stop talking like you're the one in charge." His grip tightened on her arm and Chloe could see that his eyes were wild. "I'm the one in charge here."

"Ok." Chloe tried to pacify him. "No one doubts that you're in charge here Lex. You're the one with the gun."

"Damn right." He shoved her away. Her back hit the corner of his desk and she crumpled to the floor in pain.

"So what's the plan?" Chloe asked panting as she rubbed her back. "You've got us here, you've got the gun and you're broadcasting live on National Television. What's your endgame?"

"My endgame?" Lex smiled at her. "You know my endgame." He walked closer. "My endgame is that I'm right. That I've always been right. I don't know what you did or how you did it, but I'm going to prove to everyone that I was right all along. That there are freaks in this world, that they're dangerous, and they need to be stopped."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Chloe asked him nervously.

"Easy." Lex turned to Holly and aimed the gun at her. "Stand up." Holly looked up at him, fear in her eyes and shook her head. "I said stand up." Lex screamed and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.

*****************

Oliver, like every other person in a five mile radius, and likely by this point, every other person in the world, was glued to the television set. He could feel his anger boiling his blood as he watched Lex yanked Holly up from the floor.

"_Just do what he says ok." Chloe whispered to Holly and she nodded. Lex cocked the gun and Chloe jumped forward. "Wait, you're going to kill her?" _

"_Don't be naïve Chloe." Lex glared at her. "You know as well as I do that this won't even hurt her." _

"_Right because your gun is firing imaginary bullets?" Chloe asked frantically._

"_No, because of her power." Lex pointed out and turned to the camera. "This girl, this freak, has a power that she got from exposure to meteor rocks. Whenever she's in danger she's able to produce a personal force field that's impenetrable, more than capable of stopping a bullet in it's tracks."_

"_This is crazy." Chloe yelled at him. "There's no such thing as meteor powers. She can't stop a bullet, she can't produce a… personal whatever you called it. It's not possible." _

"_Of course it is. You've seen her do it, I've seen her do it." Lex growled at Chloe. "Drop the act Chloe because I'm not buying it." Lex said. _

"_What act Lex?" Chloe asked him. _

"_You know. You know as well as I do what these people are capable of, what you are capable of. Yet you continuously deny their existence. You think I don't know what you're doing? That's all a part of your plan right? Make Lex think he's crazy, make Lex think he made up this whole thing, that it's all in his head. But it's not going to work. You and your friends may have the world fooled. It's not that hard, you just have to be careful, not use your powers in public. That's where she comes in." Lex moved the gun back in Holly's direction. "You see, she can't control her powers. It's a knee jerk reaction, an automatic response. If her body senses danger, it creates the force field."_

"_You can't do this Lex." Chloe pleaded with him. _

"_This is your fault." He yelled at her. "You did this to me."_

"_You think this is some massive conspiracy? You think that I planned this whole thing out, turned the world against you, forced you to this point. You're threatening the life of an innocent girl, for what? To get back at me for some perceived slight?"_

"_No." Lex shook his head. "To prove I was right. All I have to do is shoot her and she'll do the rest. She'll stop the bullet and everyone watching will know." _

"_You're insane." Chloe whispered to him as he lifted the gun again. _

"Are you going to stand here and tell me that this is still all part of your insane plan?" A voice said from behind Oliver and he turned away from the television for a fraction of a second to see John Jones wearing his most annoyed cop face.

"Not my insane plan." Oliver said, making sure to emphasize the fact that he had absolutely nothing to do with this situation. "Chloe's insane plan."

"Oliver." John grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side. "You said that you guys had a plan. I put my neck on the line to get assigned the lead on this case because you asked me too. I went against every instinct I had and every regulation in the book and granted Lex's request to air the situation on live television because you asked me to. But right now I've got Chloe, a cameraman, and an 18 year old girl being held hostage by a mad man who's about to broadcast a murder live on television. Unless your girl really can produce a force field, which doing so live for the world to see, would almost be the worst thing at this point, I've got to send a team in now."

"Give Chloe a few more minutes ok." Oliver pleaded with him.

"This is a dangerous game you guys are playing with a dangerous opponent you know." Oliver nodded and John sighed. "Do you have any idea how she plans on getting out of that room alive?"

Oliver was about to admit that his knowledge of Chloe's plan was minimal at best when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the hundred different speakers from the hundred different television sets that were set up in the LuthorCorp lobby. John and Oliver both ran to the nearest monitor to see Chloe run across the room and pull a fallen Holly into her lap as blood poured out of a wound in her shoulder.

Lex looked upon the scene in confusion, dropping the gun to the ground in shock and John grabbed his walkie talkie. "Shots fired I repeat, shots fired, Alpha team move now." He turned to Oliver, an angry expression on his face. "If anything happens to that girl, it's on your head."

Oliver swallowed and nodded numbly as he watched the SWAT team subdue Lex. The EMT's rushed in and pushed Chloe out of the way, Holly's blood dripping from her drenched fingertips and Oliver wondered not for the first time, how they got here.

**Six Months Ago…**

Chloe looked around the table at the group of people assembled and reminded herself to never ever cross them. She'd just finished listening to the basics of their plan for Lex and to say she was surprised wasn't quite right. She knew that there was only so far that a person could be pushed before they fought back and Lex had pushed all of them to that point and beyond. Still she didn't expect such ruthlessness. "It was Holly's idea." Jordan said as if sensing Chloe's unease.

Chloe turned to the girl in surprise. Holly was definitely not the same woman Chloe had known just a few short weeks ago. After saving everyone in the building collapse, she was sort of forced to come out of her shell because of her semi-celebrity status. Since then Megan had been helping Holly learn how to pull on her powers when she wanted to and not when her body wanted to. Holly still needed the occasional power boost to cover large areas but her control had vastly improved. The practice wasn't just helping Holly harness her powers, it was also helping Holly harness herself, helping her to become the woman she always should have, and apparently that woman had a twisted sense of revenge. "You?" Chloe asked Holly.

"I came up with the initial concept. Everyone else helped to build on it." Holly admitted sheepishly.

Chloe thought about their plan. It was definitely doable, but it was going to take a lot of work, a lot of planning, and a fair amount of luck. "Lex is smarter than even you can imagine. He's more ruthless and conniving and he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants." Chloe pointed out to them. "To pull something like this off, on this scale, you're going to need someone who knows Lex better than they know themselves. Someone who can predict what his next move will be and be three steps ahead of him the whole time."

Everyone stared at Chloe and Jordan smiled. "Well yeah, that's what you're here for." He pointed out.

Chloe wanted to protest that she didn't know Lex that well, but cut herself off. She'd been an admirer of his, then a friend, then an accomplice, then an enemy. Her life had been linked to Lex's since she was fifteen years old, whether he was helping her or trying to kill her. They were intertwined so deeply that at times she wasn't sure if she could ever separate herself from him. Not to mention that for the past three year working with Oliver it had been her job to know everything there was to know about the man. She did know Lex. She knew Lex better than she knew Clark or Lois or even Oliver. A slow smile spread across her face as she thought for the first time that maybe they could actually pull this off.

"She's in." Megan said with a relieved breath as she leaned back in her chair.

"Yeah, I'm in." Chloe agreed. "But we've got to get started today and we're going to need way more people than just you guys."

"I've got my team here and the entire building on standby." Megan pulled out her phone and pushed a button. "You wanna call your team or should I?"

The statement made Chloe pause and she looked around the room realizing perhaps for the first time how much things had changed. Since the accident, in addition to being Chloe's assistant, a job that Megan refused to give up despite her now even busier schedule, she'd also taken it upon herself to help the newly meteor infected learn how to harness and control their powers. She worked with them, pulling the power out of them so that they could learn what it felt like and how it worked until they were confident enough to use their powers on their own. She also worked with some of the older Meta's amplifying their powers and showing them just what they were truly capable of if they practiced. On top of all that, she'd emerged as a leader and this was her team assembled here.

Chloe smiled softly, that had been the purpose of JL Industries from its inception, to give the kids confidence, show them that there was so much they could do if they just worked for it. If they chose to use their new found skills and confidence to aid Chloe and Oliver in fighting the good fight, well that was just gravy.

"I'll call them, you guys should probably order some food, it's gonna be a long night." Chloe pulled out her phone. When she thought about the work ahead of them she knew it would be hard and dangerous but in the end it would be so worth it and she smiled at the prospect.

"Just wait." Jordan told her.

"Wait for what?" Chloe asked him confused.

"Wait until you see the look on his face when he realizes what we've done." Jordan sighed. "There's no feeling like it in the world."

***********************

Chloe and her team and Megan and her team took over Oliver's apartment for weeks working on the logistics of the plan. They were putting everything in place, creating contingency plans for contingency plans and triple checking that everything was set up so they were ready when it was finally time to put the plan into motion.

Oliver was, understandably, upset about the whole thing. One day Chloe goes out with Lois on a trip that was supposed to last a few hours and instead lasted almost nine. Suddenly she had this plan, a plan which she'd never fully explained to him and which at this moment was taking over her life and his.

Earlier that day the flurry of activity and noise that had penetrated his daily life for the past few months came to what felt like a screeching halt as Victor said two words, "It's ready." Everyone quietly turned to Chloe who took a deep breath and nodded.

"Send it." She said and Victor typed something in the computer and pressed enter. The whole apartment seemed to collectively hold their breath until they heard the telltale "ding" of a successfully sent e-mail. "That's it, it's out there, all we can do now is wait."

Everyone slowly gathered up all their things and trickled out of the apartment one by one until finally Chloe and Oliver were left alone again. He thought possibly now things could get back to normal but as they lay in bed later that night, her attention was, for some inexplicable reason, completely and utterly absorbed in the Smallville High Torch website. Oliver would have jumped on the bed and stuck his tongue out at her screaming "look what I can do, look what I can do" if he wasn't a grown man and if hip wasn't still broken in three places.

"I thought you were done." Oliver said. "I thought once you sent out the information that was it."

"It was, I just wanted to double check a few things, make sure all our ducks were in a row." Chloe smiled up at him but Oliver didn't smile back. "What's wrong?" She closed the computer and leaned up against his side.

"It's just ever since you started on this whole thing I've barely gotten to see you and when it's just the two of us your mind is somewhere else. Now that you put everything in motion it's just going to get worse and I was hoping that for one night, before the shit hits the fan, we could just be here, with each other."

Chloe kissed him softly and set the computer on the bedside table. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well what I have in mind would probably result in me further injuring my hip and you sleeping in the guest room." He looked at the clock and smiled. "How about this, it's tournament week on GSN. $100,00 Pyramid starts in five minutes."

"Oh it's on." Chloe assured him as she turned on the television.

**************

"Front page of everything." Chloe dropped a stack of newspapers on Oliver's lap the next morning and he flipped through them reading the headlines.

"'Luthor plays Dr. Frankenstein.', 'LuthorCorp Spending Your Money to Play with Rocks'…"

The file that Victor had sent out the day before to every reputable and not so reputable news agency contained every piece of detailed information that the JLA had been able to dig up on Project Ares, Lex's governmently funded super soldier program and just as Chloe knew they would, the media pounced on it.

"This one's my favorite." Chloe said handing him a copy of the Star City Mirror.

**LuthorCorp Attempts to Produce Own Line of Real Life Super Powered G I Joe's – Sarah Masterson**

_LuthorCorp has long been a friend to the US Government as one of the top ten Defense Contractors since the early 90's. They've contributed many of the technological advances in weaponry that are now common place in the Armed Forces like the Trident Missle, the P-3 Orion, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, and the DSCS-3 satellite just to name a few. More recently however, the House Armed Forces Committee has been funneling massive earmarks in upwards of the 10 billion dollar mark into LuthorCorp for another kind of super weapon, people. _

_In a move eerily reminiscent of the CIA's MK-ULTRA program and the Army's own Project 112 and Operation White Coat, LuthorCorp has been conducting biological experiments on military personal in secret for the past three years. MK-ULTRA was a program run by the CIA in the 1950's testing the effects of certain drugs in interrogation situations. Project 112 and Operation White Coat both used unsuspecting military personal to test what, if any, detrimental effects that dangerous biological and chemical components would have on the human body for possible use in germ ware fare. _

_The difference between those programs and LuthorCorps, dubbed "Project Ares" is that LuthorCorp was using a bevy of experimental drugs, coupled with a mystery ingredient in an effort not to find new ways to harm our enemies, but to make ourselves stronger._

_The recently uncovered reports from LuthorCorps own internal labs read like something straight out of a comic book. Their goal was to turn ordinary soldiers into super soldiers, promising enhanced strength, agility, and reflexes. Their secret ingredient in this whole thing; the sparkling green rocks that fell to earth in the famous Meteor Showers of Smallville Kansas. Reports from Project Ares even claim to have been successful in producing a prototype simply called Mark IV. According to internal memos, after multiple injections of a synthetic derivative of the meteor rocks, Mark IV displayed Super Strength, Speed, and even the power of invisibility though no evidence has been uncovered as of yet to substantiate these claims and since no super powered soldier has yet to be produced, this reporter remains skeptical of Mark IV's existence. _

_Secretary of Defense Jerald Gosen released a statement earlier today claiming that the military was never fully briefed on the particulars of the LuthorCorp contract that pertained to Project Ares. He goes on to state that over fifty "volunteers" were assigned to the project and they were turned over to LuthorCorp as requested by the US House of Representatives. He adds that they were ignorant of the events that transpired after that and pointed out that Independent contractors were not required to submit to government oversight. _

_After further investigation it seems that the late Senator Burke, who died two years ago, spearheaded the defense contracts for LuthorCorp documents recently uncovered from his files suggest that he did have intimate knowledge of Project Ares but that knowledge was not shared with his fellow committee members. A spokesman for LuthorCorp released a statement earlier claiming that Project Ares was a personal endeavor of the company's President, Lex Luthor and that LuthorCorp itself had no knowledge or involvement in its conception or execution. _

_Sources close to Lex Luther claim that his obsession with these meteor rocks started after his own close encounter with them as a boy, an encounter which resulted in his permanent Mr. Clean impersonation. He's convinced that they contain power beyond our wildest dreams and that they have the ability to bestow this power upon ordinary people through prolonged contact, like a form a radiation poisoning. _

_The names of those fifty soldiers involved in the testing has not been released to the public but according to some of the LuthorCorp documents, records show at least three fatalities in the testing stages. The government is not worried about the effect that these rocks could have. They conducted their own exhaustive experiments into the Meteor Rocks after both of the Meteor showers and concluded that while visually interesting, the green rocks are not harmful or helpful, they're simply rocks. (For full governmental report on the Meteor Rocks see page 4). Instead their main worry is what other drugs mixed with the rocks were being given to the unsuspecting "volunteers" and the possible long term health risks that could arise from that. A formal Congressional Hearing has been set for later this month to fully investigate the extent of the cover up of Project Ares and what really happened to those brave men and woman. _

_The idea that powers can be achieved through prolonged contact with meteors sound less scientific and more science fiction and it's a story that the rest of the academic community isn't buying. In unrelated news however, a staff photographer of the Daily Bugle in New York City was bitten by a radioactive spider over the weekend and is now shooting webs from his wrists and swinging through the buildings catching criminals and running from the law._

Oliver looked up from the article and frowned at Chloe's excited expression. "You're not happy? Why aren't you happy?" She sat down confused.

"It's great really." Oliver assured her. "I'm glad he finally has to be held accountable for what happened during Project Ares." He sighed. "I guess I'm just not seeing the big picture here. I didn't think we wanted him to go to jail."

Chloe smiled patiently at Oliver. "Oh ye of little faith." She patted his head and walked to the kitchen to get coffee. "This is just Phase One. Sure, it was fun to out him on Project Ares but that's not the endgame, it's just a stepping off point."

"Ok." Oliver said trying to follow along. "A stepping off point for what?"

"Everything else." Chloe said. "It's an election year, so all of those Congressmen that Lex had in his pocket are going to have to come out against him and LuthorCorp and all of this meteor rock nonsense. Human experimentation doesn't really poll well in the plain states you know."

"Ok, so they pull their backing and funding from LuthorCorp, but what good is that going to do?"

"It's going to piss Lex off." Chloe sat back down. "He truly, honestly believes that everything he's doing, all the research and experiments, is his way of safeguarding the human race from this massive coming alien invasion." She pointed out. "He stands behind his research 100% and up until it became public news fodder, so did the Senators. They've been to 33.1's they've seen what these people can do but they're going to have to deny it because as much as the world wants the truth, they're just not ready and they'd never actually believe it."

"Explain to me the part of the plan where pissing off Lex is a good idea." Oliver asked her.

"Ah, because that will bring us all to Phase Two, where in Lex retaliates by outing us." Chloe popped a grape into her mouth and Oliver's brow furrowed.

"Excuse me?" He sat up straighter. "Outing us? What do you mean outing us?"

"He's going to expose the Metahuman population to the world." Chloe elaborated.

"And we want him to do that?" Oliver asked confused.

"Oh yeah." Chloe nodded.

"Why do we want him to do that?"

"Because that is going to be the beginning of the end for him."

*****************

By the end of the day five Senators and two House Representatives had come on CNN and distanced themselves as far as they possibly could from Lex. The denouncements ranged from politely calling LuthorCorp out for their crimes to calling Lex delusional and power hungry and even going so far as to insinuate that he should seek professional help.

The very next day Lex held his own press conference. Everyone assumed that he was coming on television to do a Mea Culpa, apologize for the whole ordeal or even go so far as to deny everything. Everyone except Chloe that is. Oliver watched amused from his prone position on the couch as Jordan, Holly, Emily, and Megan paced back and forth in what looked like a conga line in front of the television waiting for the press conference to start.

"Would you guys relax." Chloe called out from the kitchen. "He's going to do it."

"You don't know that for sure." Jordan said. "If he doesn't do it our whole plan goes up in smoke."

"I do know that for sure." Chloe reminded him. "That's my job." She walked in carrying a tray of coffee cups and passed them out. She handed Jordan a mug and he turned to Bart, Victor, and AC who were playing a game of Wii tennis, Bart playing one player on each team.

"How are you guys so calm?" Jordan asked in astonishment.

"Because we've learned through years of experience to just trust Chloe." Bart swung and hit the ball, running to the other side of the television, picking up the second remote and hitting the ball back before Victor had a chance to even lift his arm. Victor and AC eventually gave up when it became apparent that Bart was simply playing against himself.

"Really." Victor dropped the Wii remote and jumped over the back of the couch, propping his feet up. "If she promises you that something's going to happen it does."

"It's almost magical." AC added as he took a cup of coffee from Chloe. "I don't know how she does it."

"I don't promise things I can't deliver." Chloe shoved Victor's feet off the couch and sat down next to Oliver.

"It's starting." Megan called out and Bart dropped the remote and ran into the room. Everyone stared frozen with anticipation as Lex walked up to the podium looked straight at the camera and cleared his throat.

"Many of you are expecting some sort of apology." Lex said. "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you. I refuse to apologize for the actions of myself and my company. I stand behind Project Ares and what it could mean for the future of this planet." Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for him to continue. "There are people living among us, people you probably know, friends, neighbors, co-workers who have been endowed, through prolonged exposure to the Smallville meteor rocks, with special abilities."

"Yes!" Jordan jumped up and Holly, Megan, and Emily did the same. They all celebrated, cheering and screaming as Lex continued to talk about the silent menace that was threatening life as they all knew it. The people that were secretly integrated into our society who had powers like teleportation, astral projection, control over things like fire and water and electricity. He talked about what a danger they were to humans and the very way of life and how his experiment with Project Ares was an attempt at a first line of defense against these freaks and what their presence could possibly mean. He left out his whole spiel about the coming alien invasion but Chloe expected that. You can't throw Metahumans and Alien's on people all in one day.

Lex walked off the stage when he finished without taking any questions and Chloe simply turned to her team and held out her hand expectantly. Oliver, Bart, Victor, and AC all reached in their pockets, pulled out a twenty and dropped them in Chloe's outstretched palm. "Hold on." Emily looked at them. "I thought you said you trusted her."

"Oh we do." Bart slipped his wallet back in his pocket. "But come on, there's no way she could have known for sure that Lex was going to out the entire Metahuman population."

"But you were so calm earlier and yet you bet against her." Holly asked confused.

"It's what we do. We trust her, we really do, but if she's wrong, betting against her assures that at least in some way, we won." Victor said.

"That doesn't bother you?" Megan asked Chloe.

"Nah." Chloe shook her head. "That's how I paid for my scooter." She smiled slipping the money in her pocket.

"So what happens now?" Oliver asked her as he flipped through the news stations to see everyone tripping over themselves to report on Lex's bombshell.

"We wait and let the press do our work for us. Lex drops this bomb on them and offers not a single shred of evidence to back up his claims. They're going to hound him until he has no further recourse but to personally out the Meta's that he knows about." Chloe explained.

They nodded in understanding then Jordan frowned. "But we're the Meta's he knows about." He pointed out. "You mean he's going to out us personally?"

"Trust me, everything's under control." Chloe assured them.

"I'm about to be outed as a Vigilante thief to the entire world, how is that remotely near under control." Oliver asked her.

"It's exactly what we want him to do." Chloe kissed Oliver's cheek. "You'll see, it's a good thing."

"Oh sure, 'It's a good thing' she says." Oliver grumbled. "Do you have any idea what my stockholders are going to say when they find out that I've been moonlighting in a green leather costume?"

*******************

"Check it out." Chloe slapped the Star City Mirror in front of Oliver three days later as he was eating his breakfast.

"**Oliver Queen- Vigilante? More likely Lex Luther-Delusional" – Sarah Masterson**

_In the wake of allegations of human experimentation, Lex Luther decided to forgo the formal apology and flat out denial in favor of introducing to the world what he called "Metahumans". According to Luthor, these people could be out there, hiding in plain sight and keeping from us the secret of their superhuman abilities. _

_This reporter is not convinced. If these people really are running around out there with the powers that Lex says they have, we would have heard about it before now. I'm sure at one time or another, we've all wished for the ability to turn ourselves invisible or to be able to run faster than the speed of light, or fly without the constraints of an airplane. But then we stopped eating paste, graduated to the first grade and grew up. _

_Following the announcement of the existence of Metahumans, Lex Luthor went even further and claimed that these super powered menace's to society were not simply running around all willy nilly but rather they were organized into a group. A group which is funded and headed by Billionaire Business Mogul Oliver Queen who is apparently hiding a secret of his own. Luthor claims that Queen leads this team, not as himself, but rather as the Robin Hood like archer we all know and love, The Green Arrow._

"_If you don't believe me, look into it." Lex told reporters outside of his lawyers office on Monday. "The Green Arrow started his reign of terror in Star City where Queen is from, moved to Metropolis only weeks after Queen set up shop there, it's not a coincidence." _

_Well Mr. Luthor, I did look into it. Lex was right, the Green Arrow moved from Star City to Metropolis two weeks after Oliver Queen did, only Lex failed to follow the Emerald Archer in his latest endeavor; cleaning up the streets of the windy city. Sighting's of the Green Arrow in downtown Chicago started almost a month and half ago, while Oliver Queen was sitting practically paralyzed at his home in Star City, recovering from injuries sustained during the collapse of JL Tower. I caught up with Oliver Queen during one of his daily physical therapy sessions, where he's just now starting to get limited mobility back into his broken hip. _

_It took him ten minutes to walk the five feet over to the table and sit down with me and I asked him his thoughts on the accusation that he was the masked vigilante. "I just read that the police in Chicago chased this guy for fifty three blocks before he finally scaled the side of a twenty story building and then jumped from rooftop to rooftop before disappearing into the night. As embarrassing as this is, I still need my girlfriends help to go to the bathroom." _

_Oliver's girlfriend, former reporter for the Daily Planet and currently the founder and head of JL Industries Chloe Sullivan was not spared by Lex's wild accusations. He purports that JL Industries is simply a front for this group of Metahumans, that JL Tower was their secret home base, and not only does Chloe run the office while Queen runs the team, but that she is the possessor of her very own ability, the ability to heal. _

_When asked to comment Miss Sullivan declared, "If I supposedly have this magical power to heal with just the touch of my hands, why did my boyfriend sit in a coma in the hospital for two weeks, why is he still healing from his injuries? I thought that Lex and I were friends but does he honestly think so little of me that I wouldn't help Oliver if I could. I wish what he said was the truth, god knows it would have saved me countless sleepless nights worrying." Me thinks the lady makes a good point. No one is going to sit by and watch a loved one suffer if there's something that they can do about it. _

_Though Mr. Luthor struck out regarding the secret identity of Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan, I wouldn't be a true reporter if I didn't at least look into the accusation leveled against Miss Sullivan's company, JL Industries. It is not in fact the cover for an elite group of super powered villains but rather a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged kids and former juvenile delinquents learn jobs and other skills that help to prepare them for the real world. _

_An article coming out in next month's Time Magazine , an article written almost a year ago, show beyond a shadow of a doubt that Miss Sullivan was not using JL Tower to cultivate a generation of super powered evildoers. Dylan Craven, the reporter for Time Magazine who shadowed Miss Sullivan for a week as she showed him the inns and outs of the organization that he's dubbed "The Urban Farm" and the was kind enough to offer us a sneak peek at his article:_

_The completely self contained building has become the inspiration for many new programs just like it, where the participants eat, sleep, work, and live all together in the same place. Miss Sullivan admits that she was inspired after reading an article about a farm in Iowa where troubled teens are sent to learn to become responsible members of society by working the fields, looking after the animals and being in charge of the day to day operations of the farm life. She thought it was a good idea but wondered if something like that could work in an urban setting, thus, JL Towers was born._

_There's everything you need to live here, contained neatly in one downtown high rise from a grocery store to a movie theater, a library to a restaurant. The kids run everything, every aspect of the place. They're in charge of ordering supplies, setting a budget. They're all dependent upon one another and they learn really quickly if they decide they don't want to go in and work at the grocery store that day, then other people don't get food or milk or essentials. On top of all that the kids are expected to attend classes in a field of study of their choice. After three months in JL Towers, these guys are more prepared for the real world that I was after five years of college." (For full article see next month's Time Magazine)._

_In light of Luthor's newest accusations and the final report on the collapse of the JL Tower, which states that the building's system failures were not a fluke accident but rather a pre meditated attack, an investigation has been opened into the possibility that Lex himself may have had something to do with the Tower's demise. _

_Personally this reporter would love to believe that there are people out there with these amazing abilities. Not in the way that requires the Lex Luthor's of the world to protect us from them, but in the way that they are here to protect us from the Lex Luthor's. _

*****************

"Here's something I don't understand." Megan dropped her copy of the paper on the table after she'd read it for the third time. "Who is in Chicago?" She stole a bite of Emily's muffin and got small shock for her troubles.

"There's almost three million people in Chicago, you'll have to be more specific honey." Bart sped off and returned holding out a basket of muffins for Megan to choose from. She kissed his cheek and grabbed a blueberry before sitting down and taking a bite.

"Who is in Chicago pretending to be the Green Arrow?" Megan clarified. "Because Oliver is the real Green Arrow right?"

"Yes Oliver is the Green Arrow." Victor smiled at her. "We've got a few people in Chicago doing their best Arrow Impersonation but it's mainly Clark."

"Chloe seriously thinks ahead doesn't she?" Jordan asked tearing off the top to his muffin and passing it to Holly.

"It was one of the first things she set up. She knew that Lex would eventually try to out Oliver so she wanted to make sure there was a contingency plan in place, an alibi ready and waiting." AC explained.

"What about that article about the JL Industries that's a halfway house for wayward teens. Anyone know where that came from?" Holly asked picking at her muffin.

"Don't look at me, I don't remember anyone getting a made up tour." Megan shrugged.

"Dylan Craven has a brother who played football at Met U and got involved with this Meteor Rock Steroid thing. Clark and I helped him out big time, got his brother sober and even made sure he kept his spot on the team. He got recruited Junior year and plays for the Sharks now." Chloe walked in the door and took off her jacket. "Dylan owed me a favor."

"So what happens now?" Victor asked.

"Well let's see, we've taken away his governmental backing, we've crippled him financially. He's going to be under a microscope in the press for quite a while and he's desperate because no one believes him. He's under not only Congressional Investigation for Project Ares but Federal Investigation for the JL Towers bombing. Which I'll admit I didn't see coming but is definitely useful. So what happens now? Now we get to have fun." Chloe smiled.

**********

"I'm really glad you agreed to do this Mr. Luthor." Cynthia Brant smiled as she pulled the tape recorder out of her bag. "If you don't mind me asking," She paused before turning on the tape recorder. "Why me? There are literally thousands of reporters who would have jumped at the chance to shadow you, to get your side of the story, so why me?"

"Well Ms. Brant of all the hundreds of articles and news reports that have come out in the past few weeks you have been the most…sympathetic to my cause."

"That's a nice way to say that I'm the only one not calling you a raving lunatic." Cynthia Brant smiled.

"I appreciate that." Lex assured her.

"Ok, so let's get started." Cynthia smiled and turned on her tape recorder. For the next three days Cynthia and Lex sequestered themselves in his office as he laid bare to her every shred of evidence that he'd accumulated in the ten years he'd been investigating the rocks and the Metahumans. He told her about everything that had happened to him since coming to Smallville. He gave her all his 33.1 files on all the people he held captive detailing their meteor abilities, yet leaving out any mention of the fact that he kidnapped, tortured and experimented on them.

He answered all her questions, anything and everything she wanted to know about the meteor infected, about Project Ares, about everything. Lex was actually starting to feel that the tide was changing in his favor when Cynthia slammed through his office door on the fourth day and dropped a stack of files on his desk. "Is this whole thing some kind of joke to you?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"You'll have to be more specific." Lex stared at the stack of files on his desk and realized they were the files of all the Metahumans he'd given her.

"This." She pointed to the files. "These people that you claim are meteor infected."

"I'm not claiming anything." Lex said. "They are meteor infected."

"You expect me to believe that after everything you've said about these people, the way you feel about them, that you would employ them?"

"What do you mean employ them?" Lex asked confused.

Cynthia dug through the stack until she found what she was looking for and opened it up. "Him." She pointed at a picture of Jordan forcefully. "I met him down in the labs yesterday. He's one of the technicians in your commercial R&D division. He heads up the cosmetics and fragrance department."

"This man, does not work for me." Lex protested.

"He's worked for you for two years, I checked his HR records." Cynthia grabbed another file and opened it up. "And her, she works in your Marketing department." Cynthia handed him the file with Megan's picture on it as she searched for another. "She works in your security office." Cynthia tossed him a file with Holly's picture in it. "He, he works in the cafeteria." She threw another file at him. "He's a part of your janitorial staff." Cynthia glared. "There are more, probably all of them work here."

"That's not…"

"You know." Cynthia interrupted. "I put my neck on the line for you. My editor didn't want me to do this story but I insisted. I thought there had to be more to the story, your side of the story. Most of the press have either branded you a criminal mastermind who concocted this whole thing about people with abilities as a way to justify your actions in Project Ares the other have just decided that you've simply lost your mind."

"I'm not crazy." Lex glared at her.

"Then you're lying. Did you just take random employee files, assign these so called powers to them and hope no one would notice?" Cynthia asked. "You weren't even trying to be creative. The guy who makes perfume, you gave him a super powered nose. The girl in security you claim she can generate a personal force field and the guy who works in the cafeteria you assigned him the ability to control temperature."

"I didn't assign these meteor powers to anyone and these people do not work for me." Lex was getting angry now.

"It's not just the people with the powers that you made up Mr. Luther. It's everything. I checked into those stories you told me about and they were all fake. The articles you talked about in the Smallville High Torch, the ones written by Chloe Sullivan, the ones you claim prove that she's lying about her knowledge of the existence of these Metahumans, they don't exist, neither does the so called "Wall of Weird"."

"That's not possible." Lex shook his head and moved to his computer.

"Sorry to interrupt Mr. Luthor." The door opened and a Emily walked in carrying a clipboard. "I need your signatures on these right away and your eleven o'clock is in the conference room." She stopped in front of Lex's desk and looked between him and Cynthia and frowned. "Should I tell him you're going to be a little late?"

Emily moved forward again to hand Lex the papers and he took a step back, a look of horror on his face. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Emily froze. "I told you, I need your signature on these papers."

"Wait a minute." Cynthia dug through the files on Lex's desk until she found the one she was looking for and tore it open. She looked between the picture of Emily in the file and the real Emily and let out a strange choked laugh. "Your secretary?"

"She's not my secretary." Lex took another step backward, remembering the last time he and Emily had been in the same room together. They were experimenting with how much electricity they could pump into someone who had their own built in current and she practically burned the building down when they reached the limit and she exploded like a faulty breaker.

"Mr. Luthor?" Emily asked him confused. "I don't understand."

"Oh." Cynthia passed Emily the file. "He thinks you're a Meta." She explained. "According to his files, you have the ability to produce and control electricity."

"This woman is not my secretary." Lex said.

"She's been sitting in the desk outside your office every day since I got here. She's been answering your phone, bringing you your mail. She sat in here with us for two hours yesterday going through backlogs of files with you for the Senate Hearing."

"She's dangerous and she's here to hurt me." Lex took another step backward.

"I shocked someone once with static electricity. You know how when you rub your sock on the carpet and then touch someone and there's a spark but…" Emily handed Cynthia the file confused. "I'm not sure what it is that I've done to anger you and I don't know why you would make up something like that." Emily walked to Lex's desk and laid her clipboard down. "I'll just leave these in here, you can get to them whenever you want." She pointed at a spot on the top page. "Just sign here and initial here." She said and Lex watched as a spark of blue energy jumped from her fingertip to the page, setting it on fire.

"There, she just did it." Lex looked up at Cynthia to confirm what he'd just seen. "She used her power and caught the papers on fire."

Cynthia glared and picked up the clipboard turning it so Lex could see. "This paper? This pristinely white, un-charred paper?"

Lex grabbed the clipboard and flipped through the pages, not one of them had a single singe mark on it. "I saw her do it, she must have switched the clipboards or something."

"I'm really confused so I think I'm going to just go." Emily walked out of the room.

"For a minute there I was leaning toward the theory that this whole thing was some elaborate scheme to save your ass, that you'd made all of this up but now, I'm pretty sure you're just delusional." Cynthia shook her head sadly and walked to the door.

Emily jumped up from the desk smiling as Cynthia walked out. "Is he totally freaking out?"

"He's definitely confused." Cynthia smiled as her features started to change. She went from Cynthia Brant leggy red headed reporter to petite black haired Sakti Kapur, Metahuman with the power of shape shifting and former resident of a 33.1 in Bangladesh. "How'd you switch the clipboards so fast?"

"At your service." Bart said speeding in the room brandishing a clipboard with the charred paper on it. "Almost burnt myself but it was totally worth it."

"You know I think the best part of this whole thing is going to be when he calls Cynthia Brant to try and explain everything and she has no recollection of spending the past three days with him." Sakti smiled.

"Oh, he's coming." Emily waved her hands and Bart sped off as Sakti's features changed again to that of an Asian woman and she grabbed a stack off files, flipping through them as if she were searching for something. Lex stormed out of the office and Emily jumped up from her desk. "Mr. Luthor is there something that I can help you with?"

"You stay the hell away from me." Lex threatened her and Emily shrunk back as if she was wounded. "I don't know what's going on here but if you're not gone before I get back, I'm calling security."

Emily smiled as he rounded the corner and she pulled out her phone. She typed out a short message just two words, "Show Time" and then hit send to all.

Lex tore through the LuthorCorp building, wanting to see if there was any truth to what Cynthia had told him. Practically every where he turned there were Metahumans, smiling and waving at him, calling him boss as if it was a normal day at the office. But it wasn't a normal day at the office because these people didn't work for him. These people were all at one point in time residents of one of his many 33.1 labs and yet they were acting like it never happened. "Hey, Mr. Luthor, I've finished up the prototype for the new fragrance line and I think it might be my best work yet. You want a sample?" Jordan smiled as Lex walked into the labs.

"This isn't happening." He mumbled to himself before turning around and leaving, bumping smack dab into Megan and sending her crashing to the ground. She scrambled to collect the papers she'd been carrying when a fit of sneezing over took her and she sneezed one, two, three times. Lex watching with frozen horror as her breath seemed to speed up and come in short bursts. She dug around in her pocket before pulling out an inhaler and taking two quick puffs of medicine.

"I'm sorry about that Mr. Luthor." Megan said sheepishly. "I was just coming to go over the new layouts for the fragrance lines but this lab always flares up my asthma."

"No." Lex said. "You don't have asthma anymore, Chloe healed you. She took your asthma."

Megan smiled at him. "Healed my asthma? I wish." She said then frowned. "Are you feeling alright sir. Do you want me to call Emily and…"

"No." Lex screamed. "No, I'm fine." He shook his head and practically ran down the corridor in the other direction. Jordan walked out of the lab with a smile on his face.

"Nice."

"I know." Megan dumped the files in the closest trash can and Jordan nodded at the inhaler in her hands.

"So what's in that thing?"

"Breath freshener, you want some?" Megan smiled and squirted a bit into Jordan's mouth.

The next few weeks was when the real work began. The residents of JL Towers invaded every aspect of Lex's life. They insinuated themselves onto his staff at LuthorCorp, they even planted themselves in his staff at home, all the while treating Lex as if he'd never kidnapped, tortured, or experimented on them. Bart seemed to be having the most fun though, following Lex everywhere he went and quickly moving things around or making something disappear for a few minutes only to put it right back where it had been before, like it was never gone, generally messing with Lex's head.

Cynthia had been right, all those stories that Chloe had written for the Smallville High Torch, gone. No fire breathing football coach, just a story about how he'd gotten a better offer in another state. No bee controlling wanna be class president, just a simple election monitor report. The wall of weird was nowhere to be found either, it was as if they'd all just vanished or been replaced.

The press refused to let up, if anything they got more and more aggressive, camping out at LuthorCorp and Lex's home but by now Lex had stopped talking. Instead he sequestered himself in his office, trying to figure out how he'd landed in this mess and how he was going to get himself out of it. "Mr. Luthor." Emily cracked the door to his office cautiously and stuck her head in. "Tess Mercer is here to see you."

Lex looked up into the eyes of a woman that he was relatively sure at one point or another he'd kept in a shallow tank of water to see what effect it would have on her powers. For two days straight she was in a constant state of electrocution, stopping and then restarting her own heart every minute or so. But now, now she was smiling at him as if that had never happened and answering his phones. It was making him think, was there anyway, if he'd really done these things to these people that they could stand there and face him in the halls and make small talk in the elevators as if it had never happened, he knew he couldn't'. "Send her in." Lex said wearily and if truth be told, slightly drunk.

"Thanks Emily." Tess pushed passed the girl. "How's your Dad doing? Last time I talked to you he was in the hospital." Tess said.

"He's fine, thanks for asking. Just indigestions apparently but mom's got him on some no carb low protein diet anyway. He hates it." Emily smiled. "Can I get you anything? Water?"

"I'm fine thanks." Tess assured her.

"Mr. Luthor?" Emily asked.

"I'm fine." He motioned to the tumbler of scotch on his desk and Emily walked out of the room.

"Drinking at eleven now are we?" Tess sat down across from him.

"How do you know Emily?" Lex leaned forward and refilled his glass, ignoring her question.

"Lex the woman's been working for you for more than five years." Tess shook her head. "We need to talk."

"Right, is this about the Congressional Hearing because it's all taken care of…"

"Lex, it's not about the hearing." Tess interrupted him. "The board called an emergency meeting yesterday."

"Why wasn't I informed of that?" Lex sobered up slightly.

"Because the meeting was to determine whether or not you were fit to be the head of this company." Tess explained.

"And what's the consensus?" He asked amused.

"It was unanimous." Tess said apologetically. "They've voted you out on the grounds of mental instability."

"They voted me out?" Lex asked. "Of my own company?"

"Lex I'm really sorry."

"No. That's not going to happen." Lex shook his head.

"Lex, it's already happened." Tess stood up. "You need to be out of the building by eight tomorrow so that I…"

"You're taking over?" Lex asked her. "Et tu Tess? I gave you your start, I made you what you are today…"

"And you would have done the exact same thing if you were in my position. I really am sorry Lex." Tess walked to the door and Lex collapsed in his chair. Well he supposed technically it was now Tess' chair.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there outlining the path of his downfall when the door opened. "Lex?" A familiar voice said cautiously and he looked up to see Chloe in his doorway.

"What do you want?" He poured another scotch. "Come to gloat?"

"Gloat?" Chloe set her bags down and shook her head. "Of course not. Tess called me, told me what happened, thought you might need a friend."

"So she called you?" Lex scoffed.

"Look, I'll admit that I was a little upset when you accused me of having those powers and what you said about JL Industries but we're still friends. You're obviously dealing with some stuff right now and I wanted to be here for you."

"Be here for me?" Lex asked her. "This is like your dream come true isn't it? I mean you couldn't have planned it any better than…" He paused and turned to look at Chloe who was still wearing an expression of confusion. His brain worked overtime, even through the haze of scotch and weariness and he smiled at Chloe. "You really couldn't have planned it any better."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked him slowly.

"Mr. Luthor." The door opened and Holly walked in dragging behind her a man who was holding a television news camera. "Sorry to bother you sir but we caught him trying to sneak into the offices, what do you want to do about him?"

A smile spread across Lex's face, the first genuine smile he'd had in months and he stood up. "Close the door." Lex said opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a box.

"Sorry sir?" Holly asked confused.

Lex opened the box and pulled out a gun, aiming it for Holly's head. "I said close the door and lock it." Lex told her and Holly immediately complied. "Well isn't this just perfect?" He asked reaching for the phone and pushing the intercom button. "What station are you with?" Lex asked the cameraman without lowering his weapon.

"CNB." The guy said nervously.

"Can they go live with your feed?" He asked and the guy nodded.

"Yes Mr. Luthor?" Emily's voice came over the speakers.

"Emily, connect me to CNB headquarters and then, take the rest of the day off." He smiled.

"Yes Mr. Luthor." Emily said and the line was silent for a minute until it started ringing.

"CNB News, this is Veronica how many I help you?" A woman asked.

"Yes, this is Lex Luthor. My security has caught one of you cameraman sneaking around my building."

"I'm so sorry to hear that sir." The woman offered. "If you'd like to make a complaint I can transfer you to the proper department."

"That won't be necessary Veronica. You see I'm currently holding your cameraman and two other people hostage at gun point." Lex informed her.

There was silence on the line and then Veronica was back. "Is this a joke?"

Lex fired a round into the ceiling and everyone jumped. "No this is not a joke. He's got a camera with him, if that camera is not broadcasting live in fifteen minutes, I'll shoot him, do you understand?"

"Yes." Veronica whispered.

"Good." Lex hung up the phone and looked over at Chloe. "I bet this wasn't a part of you plan."

*********

Within five minutes of the phone call, the building had been cleared of all personnel and the cops had blocked off a three block perimeter. Within six minutes Oliver had contacted John Jones and he'd taken over as lead on the case. Lex's one and only demand had been that the camera be allowed to broadcast the happenings live on television, unimpeded and in hour later that resulted in the whole world watching as Lex shot an innocent woman in cold blood.

Oliver stared at the elevator doors as they opened and Chloe emerged, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Lex was right behind her, his arms in cuffs behind his back as he mumbled to himself over and over again, "her armor should have stopped it".

As soon as Chloe saw him she shrugged off the EMT's and the blanket and ran into his arms. Cameras flashed around them but Oliver ignored it as he pulled her tighter, relieved that she was alive, annoyed that she'd gotten herself into that mess in the first place, and more than just a little pissed. "Thank God you're alright." He whispered into her hair.

"What are you talking about the plan worked perfectly?" Chloe smirked up at him.

"It worked?" Oliver pulled away slightly and looked down at her. "Holly got shot, you call that working?" Chloe didn't say anything and realization dawned on Oliver. "You planned that? That was part of your plan? Holly was supposed to get shot all along?"

"Just so you know it was her idea. Besides, the bullet just hit her shoulder thanks to a little nudging from Steve." Chloe said. Chloe spared Steve glance at him as he was engulfed by reporter and he winked at her. "He's one of my old Isis clients, he can move things with his mind and he was fortunate enough never to get captured by Lex so he wouldn't be suspious."

"Still." Oliver's gaze followed the gurney that was wheeling Holly into the ambulance.

"It was a through and through, clean and simple. She'll have full mobility in two weeks." Chloe assured him. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"Really?" Oliver scoffed. "How much could I have possibly helped. I can barely walk on my own."

"You got Tess on board." Chloe pointed out. "I never could have pulled that off without raising suspicions."

"She's an old friend." Oliver shrugged. "I just hinted that the way things were going with Lex it might be better if he wasn't the public face of the company. That maybe it was time for him to step down and allow some fresh blood in. She took it from there."

"But how did you get her to play along with Emily?" Chloe asked him.

"You're not the only one whose sneaky." Oliver smiled.

"_Oh hey, the next time you're at LuthorCorp, do me a favor and ask Emily how her dad's doing. The last time I talked to her he was in the hospital and I just want to make sure he's alright." Oliver said to Tess._

"_Who the hell is Emily?" Tess asked confused._

"_Lex's secretary." Oliver shook his head. "She's only worked for him for five years Tess." _

"_I know that." Tess snapped at him. _

"No one likes to look like they've been ignoring the help." Oliver said in his snottiest tone.

"You are positively diabolical." Chloe assured him.

"Yeah well I never would have done it if I had known what you were going to do. I can't believe you would…you never told me that…you are in so much trouble." Oliver sputtered at her.

"You're very cute when you're flustered you know that?" She reached up on her tip toes and kissed him softly.

"Don't do that." Oliver shook his head at her. "Don't think that you can just smile at me and do that thing with your fingers on the back of my neck and I'll just stop being mad at you."

Chloe stopped twirling the hair on his neck and frowned at him. "Wait, you can't be mad at me; I was just in a harrowing hostage situation. I feared for my life."

"Save it for the cameras." Oliver shook his head at her and a small smile broke out on his face.

"Right." Chloe smiled. "Good thinking."

"How did I ever let you talk me into this whole mess?" Oliver asked.

"Please, when do you ever say no to me?" Chloe asked him.

**Two Months Later**

Chloe walked down the silent sterile halls of Belle Reve and shuddered slightly. She hated this place, really truly hated this place on a visceral level but she'd managed to push all of that down because today was an important day. Today was Lex's first day as a full time resident. He'd been transferred out of Metropolis County Prison when he was deemed too incompetent to stand trial for his crimes.

"Right this way Miss Sullivan." An orderly motioned for her to follow him down a corridor. She was still getting used to the fact that strange people knew who she was but being the girlfriend of Oliver Queen and then being held hostage by Lex Luthor gets a girl far more press than she would like. She followed the orderly down the hall and into a small room where Lex was sitting on the edge of a bed.

Chloe nodded and waited for the orderly to walk out of the room before she pulled up the spare chair and sat down in front of him. "Lex."

"Chloe." Lex looked over at her slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"This time, I actually am here to gloat." She waited as the full implications of her words seemed to penetrate Lex's foggy brain. "There it is." Chloe said as everything clicked into place for him. "Jordan was right, there's not feeling like this in the world. It's better than getting you thrown in jail, or even shooting you, and trust me, I'm pretty sure I really would have liked to shoot you."

"You did this to me." Lex said slowly. "I was right?"

"You were right. About everything." Chloe assured him. "Well not everything. I still don't believe that whole alien invasion thing you were always going on about but you were right about all the other stuff." She frowned and noticed the cut right above his eye where he'd "accidently" hit his head as the SWAT team subdued him. "That looks pretty nasty, here." Chloe reached out a hand and covered it, a brief white light appeared and then suddenly it was gone. Lex reached up and felt the perfectly smooth skin as the cut appeared on Chloe's forehead.

"You healed it." He said to her.

"Yeah." She pulled a mirror out of her purse and moved her hair around until her newly acquired cut had been sufficiently covered up. "Tell whoever you want, it's not like anyone's going to believe you in here." She put the mirror back in her purse and smiled. "Now you're going to be here for a very long time Lex. I'm sorry there's just no way around it, not after your very publicly televised breakdown where you shot an innocent woman."

"But her armor..."

"Yeah, she'd learned a few tricks since you knew her last." Chloe explained.

"You can't leave me in here." Lex said. "I'm not crazy."

"That's the beauty of it Lex." Chloe just smiled at him. "Unfortunately with the amount of anti-psychotics they'll be stuffing down your throat in here, you won't always be completely lucid enough to appreciate the situation you find yourself in but don't worry because there are some friends here that I'm sure will help you out. Some of the more, violent Metahumans from Smallville are residents here and I've been very careful to inform each of them what good care you took of the others like them in all your 33.1 labs. They're very anxiously awaiting the chance to return the favor." Chloe stood up and kissed him on the forehead. "Have fun." She turned around and opened the door and in a fit of anger Lex charged her.

Before he even made it close to her the orderly who'd brought Chloe to the room intercepted him and had Lex flat on his back in less than a second. "That just earned you two weeks in solitary buddy." The orderly informed Lex then turned to Chloe. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, really." Chloe assured him. "It didn't have to end this way Lex. I want you to sit here for the next oh, fifty years or so of your life and think about the fact that at any point, one different decision and we could have been friends you and I. Trust me it's much better to be my friend than it is to be my enemy." Chloe waved goodbye one last time as Lex struggled to break free from the orderly screaming about how he wasn't crazy, about how Chloe had healed him and she just smiled and allowed his screams of panic to follow her to the parking lot.

******

Author's Note: This isn't the end. There's one very small chapter that wraps up some of the Chloe Oliver storyline (and the Lois Bart thing) but this was getting ridiculously long so be expecting an epilogue in the next few days.

A few points of interest: MK-ULTRA, Project 112, and Operation White Coat where all very real, secret government operations that did experiments on living and most times uninformed test subjects. All of the products listed in the newpaper article whose invention was credited to LuthorCorp are also real but the rightful credit goes to Lockeed Martin. Not that I'm terribly worried that someone from R&D over at Lockheed Martin is reading this story and upset that I gave a fictional corporation credit for thier inventions, I still like to give credit where credit is due.

I also know that Project Ares at very little to do with the meteor rocks and more to do with genetic material taken from zoners but I need it to be about the rocks to fit my story so I changed it.


	8. Chapter 8

"Nine months." Oliver groaned as Doctor Emil studied the x-ray. "It's been nine months of her changing my bandages and giving me sponge baths, and helping me…you know."

"Pee?" Victor smirked at Oliver who glared. "It's getting to you isn't it?" Victor asked.

"Why are you here again?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, because Dr. Emil won't let Chloe come anymore and she insisted someone else be here so you don't lie to her about what he says." Victor smiled.

Dr. Emil left the room chuckling under his breath and Victor continued to smile. "I'll give you five hundred dollars to tell her I'm cleared no matter what the Doc says." Oliver offered Victor and he just laughed.

"She's killing you isn't she?" He asked.

"My body's on fire." Oliver said groaning which only caused Victor to laugh harder. "Why am I even talking to you about this?"

"I don't know but please continue." Victor said. "I just wish I had a tape recorder."

Oliver just rolled his eyes.

**************

"Nine months." Chloe said to Lois while she fanned herself. "Nine very long, excruciating months." Lois tried to hide her chuckles.

"He had a doctor's appointment this morning didn't he?" Lois asked helping Chloe serve up the ice cream.

Chloe had been slightly nostalgic for home, not really realizing how much she missed Lois until they reconnected while Chloe was in the hospital. She'd have been content just to go back and visit every other weekend or so but Oliver could never deny Chloe anything, and he never, ever did something halfway. So to cut down on her commute they re-established their base camp in Metropolis after the explosion and they were breaking ground on the new JL Towers in a month. At the moment Chloe was helping Lois man the ice cream booth at Smallville's annual Start of Summer Street Fair.

"Yes, his burns are all fine, the skin grafts took nicely, but they're checking his ribs and hip today." She scooped another cone as Bart and Megan walked up. "Hey." Chloe smiled, glad to change the subject.

"I thought this was supposed to be a coffee booth." Megan frowned at the large Talon sign where fresh coffee was crossed out and cold ice cream was hastily written in.

"It's 110 degrees out here." Chloe pointed out. "Even I won't drink coffee in this heat. So you here to help?

"Yes, where do you want me?" Megan nodded.

"Manning the cones." Chloe smiled and Megan leaned over to kiss Bart goodbye when she saw Lois glaring at her.

"Hey Lois." Megan said sheepishly.

"Megan." Lois nodded then turned to Bart and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Hey Bart, can I get you a cone? On the house?"

"They're all on the house." Chloe glared at Bart.

"Lois, can I talk to you for a second?" Bart asked and she giggled, actually giggled as she walked down the sidewalk with him.

"I'd like to apologize for my cousin." Chloe turned to Megan.

"It's fine." She laughed. "Really, I mean obviously I get the appeal. Besides I know that the only reason Bart would ever leave me was if you suddenly declared your undying love for him." She paused and turned to Chloe. "You're not going to suddenly declare your undying love for him are you?"

"Not in this lifetime or the next." Chloe assured her as Lois walked back up to the table in a daze. "Lois, you ok?'

"I think…" she turned back to look at Bart who was laughing and goofing off with Victor and AC. "I think I just got let down easy by Bart." She made a strange face. "What….exactly happened to me this past month that ended with me being let down easy by Bart Allen?"

"No one knows honey." Chloe patted her shoulder.

"Bart Allen doesn't let me down easy." Lois scoffed. "I let Bart Allen down easy. I mean come on."

Chloe tilted her head at Lois and smiled slightly. "You a little sad?"

"A little." Lois admitted.

"You think an ice cream cone will help?" Megan held out a cone with mint chocolate chip pilled high.

"A little." Lois took the cone and licked it.

"New subject. Oliver's last doctor's appointment. Are you gonna jump him?" Megan asked taking a bite of her own ice cream cone and smiling. Chloe's face turned bright red and Lois laughed.

"Oh she's so going to jump him." Lois shook he her head. "It's killing you isn't it?" Lois smiled at her.

Chloe threw her head back and laughed, out of frustration, desperation, she wasn't sure what. "My body is on fire." Chloe groaned and Megan and Lois could no longer hold their laughter in. "You guys are great friends you know that right?" They just kept on laughing.

"Hot body, eleven o'clock." Lois said sobering up quickly and Chloe turned to see Oliver walked in her direction, a determined look on his face, not so much determined as... "He's going to throw you on the table and have his way with you in the middle of the fair isn't he?" Lois said staring at the look on Oliver's face as he stalked toward them.

Megan and Lois both turned to see Chloe, her hand shaking so badly she couldn't hold the ice cream scoop, her breath coming faster than it had in months. "Inhaler?" Megan reached in her pocket.

"No." Chloe said, sweat dripping down her neck. "I'm fine…" She dropped the ice cream scoop and turned around quickly, reaching in the cooler, grabbing a handful of ice and unceremoniously dropping it down the front of her shirt. Lois and Megan's laughter started up all over again.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Clark walked up to Oliver, blocking him from her view and Chloe was able to breathe again. "Oh God." Megan breathed out at the same time Chloe collapsed against table. "I could feel that from over here." She was fanning herself and Chloe glared.

****************

Oliver walked more purposefully across the town of Smallville than he ever had in his life. There were people everywhere and somewhere in his brain he registered that the street fair was today. That meant that Chloe would be with Lois at the Talon's coffee booth. He adjusted his route and headed in that direction.

He spotted her as soon as he turned the corner, his eyes almost trained to pick her out of a crowd. She was next to Lois who was laughing about something and she'd somehow managed to rope Megan into helping her out. The coffee had apparently been replaced by ice cream and Oliver suddenly felt the heat of the day press on him and realized why.

The girls were sharing some kind of joke and Chloe threw her head back and laughed at something Lois said and then his feet didn't work anymore. He could see her so clearly, see almost every bead of sweat as it rolled from the nape of her neck, down the slope of her breasts, to disappear under her top. He swallowed hard and then she looked up at him and his determination was renewed and he started toward her again. He saw her mouth open slightly, her breath come a little faster and then watched as she turned around and dumped a handful of ice down her top, this made him smile. Then he couldn't see her. Clark had walked straight into his path and cut him off. "I didn't expect to see you here!" Clark shook his hand and patted him on the back.

"Well, I didn't expect to be here but I go where Chloe goes." He was hoping Clark would get the hint.

"I'm glad you came, got out, took in the fresh air." Clark said slowly.

"Yeah." Oliver said distractedly.

Clark opened his mouth to say something else when Oliver placed a hand on his shoulder and moved him slightly to the side. "I gotta go, I'll talk to you later." He said, not looking at him as he once again made his way to Chloe.

****************

She was so busy trying to compose herself she didn't see him end his conversation with Clark, or walk over to their stand. What she saw were strong capable hands lay gently on the table top. She heard Megan's sharp intake of breath and had to will herself to look up. When she did she froze, probably everyone in a ten miles radius froze. He was looking at her hungrily, urgently, with a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.

"Dear God in heaven." Lois whispered before falling into the ice chest.

****************

Chloe hadn't see him approach so he stopped and laid his hands on the table. She lifted her head up to look at him and he was glad he was leaning on the table because he wasn't sure he would be able to support his own weight at the moment. The look in her eyes went straight from his head to his groin and he had to stifle a moan.

"Looks like you're running low on ice cream." He said to her. She didn't bother to look down at the container that she knew was practically full.

"I could use a refill." She said back, a smile forming on her face.

"I could help you with that." He picked his hands up of the table and straightened.

"It's in the freezer at the Talon." Chloe smiled pulling off her apron. Before she was even finished Oliver nodded and headed up the street in that direction. "Keys." Chloe said to Lois snapping her fingers as her hands shook. Lois jumped up and reached in his pocket. "Keys, keys, keys." Chloe bounced from one foot to the other staring at Oliver's ass as he walked to the building.

"Jeez, hold on." Lois frowned pulling out her key chain and handing it over, then she snatched them back. "It's my apartment now, my mattress…I'm not sure if I want you guys…you know." Lois crinkled her nose.

"Lois I'll buy you a new mattress, I'll buy you a new bed just give me the keys." Chloe said. Lois dropped them suddenly and into Chloe's hand.

*****************

Chloe practically skipped to Oliver, he was standing by the locked door of the Talon, shifting his weight from one foot to the other impatiently as she walked forward, her skip turning into a jog. Oliver grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to stand in front of him then angled her to the door. "Unlock it." He whispered huskily into her ear and she almost collapsed. His grip tightened on her waist and he pulled her closer and she could feel why he wanted her in front of him.

"Oh god." She sighed her forehead falling on the door as her hands shakily brought the key up to the lock. She couldn't get the key in and then Oliver's hand was on hers and he was steadying it and they were sliding the key in and when they door finally unlocked they were both breathing so heavily that Chloe was worried they wouldn't make it inside.

Oliver turned the knob and practically shoved her in side, slamming the door behind him with his foot as she grabbed her by the neck to pull her in for one of the most toe curling, knee bending, bone jelling kisses she'd ever had. When he pulled away she was panting heavily. "Windows." Chloe collapsed onto a bar stool and Oliver walked over to see a few of Smallville's residents staring at them.

"You ok?" He asked over his shoulder as he lowered the blinds.

"I'm fine, it's not asthma." She said taking a deep breath. "I just…"

"I know." He said closing the last set of blinds and making it back to her side in two seconds to claim her lips in another kiss.

"Wait." She pulled back. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." He assured her, moving his mouth to her neck.

"Are you lying to me?" Her voice hitched as he found just the right spot under her ear and he smiled against her skin.

"No." He said. Her hands fumbled around her skirt until she found the pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "What are you doing?"

"Checking." She told him as she flipped it open and dialed a number.

"You don't trust me?" He asked, slowly lowering the strap of her tank top off of her shoulder so he could kiss her there.

"Not as far as I can thrown you." She laughed.

"Hello." The voice on the other side of the phone said.

"Victor." Chloe panted out. "What did the Doctor say?" Oliver had removed the other shoulder strap and was working on that side now.

"What Doctor?" Victor asked and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Victor." She panted out. "Not, funny." Her voice rose on funny as Oliver placed his hands on her knees and slowly brushed them up her thighs to land on her hips, her bare hip.

"No underwear." He muttered. "Interesting."

"Oh god." Victor said. "I heard that."

"Well you're about to hear a lot more." Chloe swallow as Oliver's fingers dug into the skin on her hips. "So just tell me what the doctor said."

"Clean bill of health. Cleared him for strenuous exercise." Victor chuckled. "You're good to go."

"Thanks." She said smiling at Oliver.

"You're about to miss the pie eating contest." Victor told her as she closed the phone and tossed it behind the counter. She wrapped her arms around Oliver's shoulder pulling him closer to her.

"Ok." She said smiling. "Proposition. Neither of us is going to last very long, so let's not even try to pretend." He smirked at her. "One quick "get it out of your system" before I take you back to my place and hold you hostage for three days?" She offered.

"Make it two." Oliver said. "And you've got a deal."

"I can do that." Chloe smiled pulling him down for another kiss as she tugged his shirt from his pants, they could hear chanting start up somewhere and Chloe figured the pie eating contest must have started. Every other thought was thrown out the window when she managed to free his shirt and suddenly she was touching his bare skin.

He hissed, actually hissed at her and for a second she thought it was pain until he followed it with a growl and lifted her up to sit on the edge of the counter. "We're so not gonna make up to Lois' apartment." Chloe laughed as her legs wrapped around his waist pulling him closer. She grabbed his waistband to unbutton his pants and her hands stopped as the chanting outside turned to screams, horrified panicky screams.

"Ignore it." Oliver said, his hands covering hers to help her with his pants.

When the button and the zipper finally taken care of Chloe reached for the waistband of his boxers when they heard a banging on the door. "Oliver!" Victor's voice carried through the glass.

"Go away." Oliver screamed.

"Yeah sorry to interrupt your….just sorry to interrupt, but we've got a situation out here." AC told him.

"Take care of it." Oliver growled at them.

"Ok, we just thought you might want to know that a contestant in the pie eating contest just sort of burst into flames halfway through his second boysenberry." Bart piped up. "And Clark had to go…see a man about a story."

Oliver sighed, leaning his forehead against Chloe's and took a deep breath. They both looked down at her hands which were just slipping inside of his boxers and they started to laugh. "Oliver?" Victor called out after a second. "Chloe?"

"Just a second." Oliver yelled back, took a deep breath and took two steps back from Chloe.

"I should…"

"I understand." Chloe smiled at him pulling up the straps on her tank top.

"It's most likely Meta related and I promised Clark." Oliver pointed out. Part of setting up base in Metropolis was an agreement to help out Clark who was finally embracing his destiny. Embracing his destiny however meant that he didn't have enough time to deal with the troubles at home, because he was generally "seeing a man about a story" which was their code for "halfway around the world saving someone from something".

"Oliver, someone just burst into flames. There's no way I'm missing this one." Chloe smiled jumping down and picking up her flip flops that had somehow fallen off. "Spontaneous Human Combustion, Meta related or not, it's definitely gonna top sex every time." She assured him as he zipped up his pants.

He laughed hoarsely at her and she kissed him softly. "Besides, at the rate we were going, one of us would have ended up back at the hospital. We need a breather."

"As soon as we can get away." He said reaching for the door.

"I know." She smiled.

"God, you're fantastic." He told her stepping forward to kiss her again.

"I know, would you just go." She shoved him lightly to the door and he opened it to find almost half of Smallville standing there waiting.

Victor, AC, Lois, Bart, Megan, Jordan, and even Holly and Emily were all staring at the door to the Talon and Chloe felt her face turn bright red. "It wasn't me I swear." Emily held up her hands so everyone could clearly see they were gloved.

"What are we all standing around here for?" Oliver asked tucking in his shirt much to Lois's amusement. "Didn't a man just burst into flames?"

"Right this way." Victor smiled.

Lois smirked at Chloe as she fanned her face in the heat. "So I don't remember Oliver being that quick, did you…"

Chloe held up a hand cutting her off abruptly. "Lois, I'm am wound so incredibly tight right now I want you to take a deep breath, think about what that rest of that sentence was going to be and decide if you really, really want to finish it." Lois stopped and bit her lip. "You want to pretend like you never said anything?" Lois nodded quickly and they kept walking in silence.

Lois watched as Oliver and his team walked over to the crime scene. Oliver got distracted by the sight of Chloe pulling her hair off her neck in a small effort to cool herself off so Victor took over. He barked orders to his team and the members of Megan's team, trying to get as much done as they could before the police showed up. "So what's the story with Victor?" Lois asked twirling a piece of hair around her fingers. She caught his eye and waved a tiny girly wave. Victor frowned at her confused but waved back.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "Not again." She took off to the pie eating table.

"I'm not asking for a family history." Lois jogged after her.

"I'm not listening to you." Chloe stuck her fingers in her ear in the classic two year old tantrum pose.

"I just want to know if he's seeing someone." Lois called.

*************

Author's Note: I know it's really short but I just wanted to tie up loose ends. I've got a few other stories in the works but I'm not sure when I'm going to start posting so just be patient.


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